Nagoya Protocol: Key Signatories Take It Closer To Goal

The protection of genetic resources from misappropriation, institutionalised in October 2010 by the Nagoya Protocol, is getting nearer to realisation as eight new countries ratified the protocol yesterday.

Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland and Tunisia signed the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), according to the CBD.

The signing ceremony took place at UN headquarters in New York in conjunction with the Ministerial Segment of the 19th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

The number of countries signatories to the protocol is now 21, almost halfway to the goal of 50 ratifications needed for the entry into force of the protocol, which will come 90 days after the 50th ratification. It is hoped that the protocol can enter into force before the 11th meeting of the CBD Conference of the Parties in autumn 2012. [Clarification: Signing the protocol is only the first step, which must be followed by national-level ratification. The actual number of ratifiers toward the goal of 50 is lower than 21. We apologise for any confusion.]

Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD executive secretary, said he looked “forward to the signing of the Nagoya Protocol by the European Union in the near future which will be another major step towards the early entry into force of the Protocol.”