Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Last month, after 18 years of negotiations and more than 2 weeks of tense discussions in Nagoya, Japan, the world finally struck a deal on access to genetic resources and benefit sharing. The agreement — the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Equitable Sharing of Benefits — was, for many developing countries, a pre-requisite to any broader biodiversity pact. The Group of 77 and China had repeatedly said they would not sign any deal on financing or a strategic plan for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) unless a protocol on benefit sharing was established first.

Krystyna Swiderska reflects on what happened during the COP10, Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, in October 2010.

193 governments have gathered in Nagoya, Japan for the 10th Conference of Parties (COP10) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in October this year. They were asked to adopt a new ten-year strategic plan to protect biodiversity and ensure that it is used in a sustainable way.

In thousands of rural communities from Bolivia to Bangladesh, traditional knowledge makes up the living core of culture. Bound up with local livelihoods and biodiversity, it forms a holistic system precisely tailored to local needs and environmental capacity. Its evolution over time and through shifting conditions ensures traditional practices are robust and adaptable to climate change.

Communities worldwide risk losing control over their traditional knowledge and biological resources because a UN agency (the World Intellectual Property Organisation -WIPO) and the global seed industry insist on using Western intellectual property standards for managing access to them.