A
Backgrounder on ICNP – 2
The Second Meeting of the Intergovernmental
Committee for Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ICNP-2) was held
in New Delhi from 2-6 July, 2012.
The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit
Sharing (ABS) is a new international treaty adopted under the auspices of the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan on 29th October,
2010, after six years of intense negotiations.
The CBD, one of the two agreements adopted
during the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, is the first
comprehensive global agreement which addresses all aspects relating to
biodiversity. The Convention, while reaffirming sovereign rights of nations
over their biological resources, establishes three main goals: (i) conservation
of biological diversity, (ii) sustainable use of its components and (iii) fair
and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources.
A framework for implementing the third objective of the CBD, which is generally
known as access and benefit sharing (ABS) is provided for in the Convention.
All living organisms: plants, animals and
microbes, carry genetic material that has potential uses for developing a wide
range of products and services for human benefits, such as in development of
medicines, drugs, cosmetics, enzymes, agricultural and horticultural products,
environmental techniques etc.
