Montreal Conference on Biodiversity

Subject :Environment

The Montrealmeetingwasthe15thedition of this conference, hence the name COP15 — or the15thConferenceof the Parties to the CBD. The Montreal Conference has delivered a new agreement called the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which contains four goals and 23 targets that need to be achieved by 2030.
The GBF is being compared to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change that is guiding global climate action.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

CBD is a legally binding treaty to conserve biodiversity that has been in force since 1993 and has been ratified by 196 nations.
It sets out guidelines for countries to protect biodiversity, ensure sustainable use, and promote fair and equitable benefit sharing.
It aims at achieving a historic deal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss on par with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
The CBD Secretariat is based in Montreal, Canada.
The COP-10 also adopted a ten-year framework for action by all countries to save biodiversity. Officially known as “Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020”, it provided a set of 20 ambitious yet achievable targets collectively known as the Aichi Targets for biodiversity.
India enacted Biological Diversity Act in 2002 for giving effect to the provisions of the CBD.
The Parties (Countries) under CBD, meet at regular intervals and these meetings are called Conference of Parties (COP).

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.
The protocol defines a ‘living modified organism‘ as any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology, and ‘living organism’ means any biological entity capable of transferring or replicating genetic material, including sterile organisms, viruses and viroids.
The Protocol promotes biosafety by establishing rules and procedures for the safe transfer, handling, and use of LMOs, with specific focus on transboundary movements of LMOs.
It features a set of procedures including one for LMOs that are to be intentionally introduced into the environment called the advance informed agreement procedure, and one for LMOs that are intended to be used directly as food or feed or for processing.
Furthermore, the shipment of LMOs subject to transboundary movement must be accompanied by appropriate documentation specifying, among other things, identity of LMOs and contact point for further information.
It was adopted in 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force in 2003.

Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) was adopted in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan at COP10.
It entered into force on 12th October 2014.
It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
It not only applies to genetic resources that are covered by the CBD, and to the benefits arising from their utilization but also covers traditional knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources that are covered by the CBD and the benefits arising from its utilization.

30×30 Target:

The Kunming declaration(first Part of CoP 15)made a reference to the ’30 by 30′ target which is a key proposal being debated at the COP15, that would afford 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans protected status by 2030.
Apart from this, the goal to halve the use of chemicals in agriculture and stop creating plastic waste is also being debated.

Target :

Restore 30% degraded ecosystems globally (on land and sea) by 2030
Conserve and manage 30% areas (terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine) by 2030