Governments Outline Global Protocol on Planet's Genetic Resources

After seven days of thorough discussions at the 9th meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit‑sharing at Montreal, the world's governments finally came up with a draft of a legally binding protocol on the access and benefit sharing of the rich genetic resources of our planet. The draft is entitled Aichi Nagiya Protocol on Access and Benefit –Sharing (ABS) and will be finalized and adopted during the 10th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention in Biological Diversity on 29 October 2010. Access and benefit-sharing pertains to the process by which the genetic resources - whether plant, animal or microorganism - are accessed in the countries of origin and how the benefits are shared to the people or countries that provide them. Ensuring unbiased and equal sharing of benefits from the utilization of genetic resources is one of  three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

"History will recall that the Aichi Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing was born here in Montreal. Once again, the Montreal magic has worked for delivering one of the most important legal instruments in the history of the environment movement," said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention.

Read the press release at http://www.cbd.int/doc/press/2010/pr-2010-07-16-abs-en.pdf.