Geneva Biodiversity Conference

Geneva Biodiversity Conference

Subject: Environment

Section: Biodiversity

Context- “Extinction” is the buzz word at the ongoing meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Geneva, where delegates from 190 countries are finalising a global plan to stop the biodiversity loss (March 14-29, 2022).

Concept-

• Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP15, CBD) is to take place in Kunming, China.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will hold three meetings concurrently that “are critical to developing an effective post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF)”.
• The CBD’s two subsidiary bodies, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) will convene, along with the Open-ended Working Group on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (WG2020).

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a legally binding treaty to conserve biodiversity.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (a multilateral treaty) was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and entered into effect in 1993. It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.
• It has been in force since 1993.
• It has 3 main objectives:
  • The conservation of biological diversity.
  • The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity.
  • The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
• The CBD Secretariat is based in Montreal, Canada and it operates under the United Nations Environment Programme.
• Only two member states of the United Nations are not Parties to the CBD, namely: the USA and the Vatican.
• The Parties (Countries) under Convention of Biodiversity, meet at regular intervals and these meetings are called Conference of Parties (COP).
• Supplementary agreement to the Convention include:
  • Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
    • It came into force on 11th September 2003.
    • The Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
  • 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.
  • 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.