Scientists for alternative solutions to Biodiversity Treaty

Last Updated on November 11, 2018 by Bharat Saini

Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), an international legally-binding treaty with its overall objective to encourage actions that will lead to a sustainable future, has three main goals of conservation of biodiversity; sustainable use of biodiversity; fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources; and is often seen as the key international instrument for sustainable development. CBD covers biodiversity at all levels that include ecosystems, species and genetic resources. It also covers biotechnology, including through the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. In fact, it covers all possible domains that are directly or indirectly related to biodiversity and its role in development, ranging from science, politics and education to agriculture, business, culture and much more.

CBD inspired by the world community’s growing commitment to sustainable development, was opened for signature on June 5, 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro and entered into force on December 29, 1993. There are now 193 signatories to it including India..

An international team of scientists has published a communication in the Science Journal on June 28, 2018 claiming that Convention on Biological Diversity treaty is hampering conservation research and preventing international collaborations as a result of regulations that have risen due to its implementation. Dr. Jeyaraney Kathirithamby, University of Oxford, U.K, besides India’s Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment and professors at India’s Kerala Agricultural University are also co-authors of the policy critique of CBD that has received support of 172 scientists from 35 countries.

These scientists opine that some alternative solution such as an explicit treaty or some additions to the CBD to promote and facilitate biodiversity research, conservation, and international collaboration International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), known in brief as the Seed Treaty, which ensures worldwide public accessibility of genetic resources of essential food and fodder, could as well be used as a model for exchange of biological materials for non-commercial research, according to them. The Seed Treaty was approved at the 2001 FAO conference in Rome, and it came into force in Switzerland on 20 February 2005 with the following objectives:

• Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture which form the basis of foodstuffs throughout the world should be conserved and used sustainably;
• The exceptional contribution by farmers to the conservation and development of plant genetic resources should be recognised, and the rights derived from these resources (farmers’ rights) should be respected;
• The global treaty should make it easier for farmers, plant breeders and scientists to access plant genetic resources;

The benefits derived from the use of genetic resources should be shared with the countries of origin of these resources, and with the farmers.