Introduction
The Convention on Biological
Diversity was finalized in Nairobi in May 1992 and opened for signature at the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de
Janeiro on 5 June1992. It entered into force on 29 December 1993. Today, the
Convention is the main international instrument for addressing biodiversity
issues. It provides a comprehensive and holistic approach to the conservation
of biological diversity, the sustainable use of natural resources and the fair
and equitable sharing of benefits deriving from the use of genetic resources.
Biosafety is one of the issues
addressed by the Convention. This concept refers to the need to protect human
health and the environment from the possible adverse effects of the products of
modern biotechnology. At the same time, modern biotechnology is recognized as
having a great potential for the promotion of human well-being, particularly in
meeting critical needs for food, agriculture and health care. The Convention
clearly recognizes these twin aspects of modern biotechnology. On the one hand,
it provides for the access to and transfer of technologies, including
biotechnology, that are relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity (for example, in Article 16, paragraph 1, and Article 19,
paragraphs 1 and 2). On the other hand, Articles 8(g) and 19, paragraph 3, seek
to ensure the development of appropriate procedures to enhance the safety of
biotechnology in the context of the Convention’s overall goal of reducing all potential
threats to biological diversity, taking also into account the risks to human
health. Article 8(g) deals with measures that Parties should take at national
level, while Article 19, paragraph 3, sets the stage for the development of an
international legally binding instrument to address the issue of biosafety
At its second meeting, held in
November 1995, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention established an
Open-ended Ad Hoc Working Group on Biosafety to develop a draft protocol on
biosafety, focusing specifically on trans boundary movement of any living
modified organism resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse
effect on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. After
several years of negotiations, the Protocol, known as the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, was finalized and adopted
in Montreal on 29 January 2000 at an extraordinary meeting of the Conference of
the Parties.
The conclusion of the Biosafety
Protocol has been hailed as a significant step forward in that it provides an
international regulatory framework to reconcile the respective needs of trade
and environmental protection with respect to a rapidly growing global industry,
the biotechnology industry. The Protocol thus creates an enabling environment
for the environmentally sound application of biotechnology, making it possible
to derive maximum benefit from the potential that biotechnology has to offer,
while minimizing the possible risks to the environment and to human health.
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