Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
A commitment by nations to conserve biological diversity, to use biological resources sustainably and to share benefits from the use of genetic resources equally.
What is the difference between conservation and “sustainable” use?
Most countries would not accept the conservation aspects of the convention without specific mention of “use” of biological and genetic resources.
Most biodiversity exists in poor countries, whereas developed nations have large financial resources but little biodiversity, hence the need for a global convention to share the costs and benefits of biodiversity conservation. The CBD recognises that countries have sovereignty over their own biodiversity (Articles 3, 15) but conservation of biodiversity is a “common concern” of humankind.
What is the difference between sovereignty and ownership?
Sovereignty means that States have the right to control access to biodiversity (Article 15), but they are also responsible for conserving biodiversity and using it sustainably (Articles 6, 8 & 10).
Articles 6 & 10 oblige States to include conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into government policies and strategic planning.
Article 7 obliges States to identify important components of biodiversity, identify processes causing biodiversity loss and monitor them.
Article 8 deals with conservation on biodiversity in situ: establishment of protected areas, rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems and recovery of threatened species. Ex situ measures are meant to compliment in situ measures (Article 9).
States are obliged to regulate use of biological resources for conservation and encourage the development of methods for sustainable use (Article 10). States must provide training and research to meet these objectives (Article 12) and make the public aware of them (Article 13).
Implementation of these articles is left up to each individual State. There are no global rules and each State may use difference methods to implement these articles.
Access
The most controversial topic of the convention.
States would not join the convention unless it dealt specifically with access to:
• genetic resources
• biotechnology and
• benefits arising from biotechnology.
Some States (including Thailand) feel that articles dealing with these issues make it easy for foreign countries to gain access to biodiversity, without returning benefits gained from using that biodiversity to the countries which provided the original genetic material.
Most biodiversity remains in the poorer countries, whilst the richer countries have developed the biotechnologies to exploit genetic resources. Poorer countries see the genes and the biotechnology used to exploit those genes as equally valuable. They want to develop their own capacity to exploit their own genetic resources. Therefore, provision of genetic material to developed countries must be matched with provision of biotechnologies to the poorer countries.
Should access to genetic resources be free or restricted?
Under the CBD, access to genetic resources is subject to national laws (Article 15).
Sovereignty over biological resources gives provider countries the power they need to negotiate a fair agreement with the user country.
Should organisms be patented?
How should benefits be shared between provider countries and user countries?
How can we reward human ingenuity without ignoring the value of the original material?
Access to the benefits of use of genetic resources is agreed bilaterally between the provider and user countries (Articles 15, 16 & 19).
Funding
It was estimated that between 1993-2000, 3.5 - 17.0 billion US$ would be required for funding activities under the CBD.
Individual States are required to fund their own obligations under the CBD as much as possible (Article 20, para 1). Developed countries, further to their obligations under para. 1, are required to provide additional funds to help the developing countries to meet any new costs incurred by them in implementing the CBD.
Article 21 establishes a financial mechanism controlled by the “Conference of the Parties”, by which funds are transferred from developed to developing countries for implementation of the CBD. A central fund is created with contributions from the developed countries. The Conference of the Parties sets the annual budget required for implementing the CBD in developing countries and decides which projects to fund and whether to give money as a loan or a gift. This process is to be carried out democratically and in a transparent manner.