At first meeting, countries adopt measures to strengthen and support implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing

Pyeongchang, 17 October 2014 – Governments have agreed to a series of actions that will further bolster the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, facilitate its effective implementation, and ensure that countries have the necessary resources to take the next steps to implement the treaty, which entered into force earlier this week.

Among the decisions adopted at the first Meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol (COP MOP-1), held in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea from 13 to 17 October 2014, are mechanisms to ensure compliance with the Protocol, measures to assist institutional capacities in developing countries, and a strategy to raise awareness of the international instrument.

“The Convention is finally standing on three legs with its three objectives now firmly addressed,” the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, said to the COP MOP-1, which took place under the umbrella of the 12th meeting of the Parties of the CBD (COP-12).

“Now we need to see how the provisions of the Protocol are taken up at the national level and how this facilitates access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits with those stakeholders and indigenous peoples and local communities who conserve and sustainably use those resources.”

The Protocol, which was agreed in 2010 and entered into force on 12 October with 51 ratifications, establishes clear rules for accessing, trading, sharing and monitoring the use of the world’s genetic resources that can be used for pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmetic and other purposes. As of today, 54 Parties have ratified the Nagoya Protocol.

Hem Pande, representing the government of India, which presided over COP MOP-1, said “With the entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol six days ago, followed by significant advancements made on some key issues in this historic first COP-MOP, a new era of trust building and partnership among users and providers of genetic resources has indeed begun. This I believe will also give confidence to the non-Parties to ratify the Protocol at the earliest.”

Parties at the meeting emphasized the need to ensure that countries can implement the Protocol, and to this end they adopted a strategic framework for capacity building and development. They also adopted decisions on guidance to mobilize resources and ensure that developing countries including countries with economies in transition have sufficient resources to implement the Protocol.

In addition, countries agreed on procedures to establish a committee to promote compliance with the Protocol and address cases of non-compliance.

Countries also called for measures to guide them through the use of the Access Benefit- Sharing Clearing House (ABS-CH) – the online platform that will enhance transparency on the use of genetic resources –and ensure all available information is registered there.

The COP MOP stressed the importance of raising awareness of the Protocol and adopted decisions to support activities to that end. It also called on the Global Environment Facility to increase funding for this objective.

The implementation of the Nagoya Protocol contributes to the achievement of Aichi Biodiversity Target 16. Target 16 provides that the Nagoya Protocol should enter into force and be operational by 2015. With the results of COP MOP-1, this target is poised to become the first of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets to be fully implemented.

“With the cooperative efforts and the collective work of this week, the COP MOP has established a firm foundation for the operationalization of the Nagoya Protocol,” Mr. Dias said.