Big challenge to get US on board biodiversity meet: Ramesh
October 15th, 2010 - 9:39 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS) It is a big challenge to get the US on board the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) despite the country being the biggest user of bio-resources in the world, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said here Friday.
“US is not a party to the CBD although it is the biggest user of bio-resources from developing countries,” Ramesh said while briefing media about the upcoming Tenth Conference of Parties (COP) to the CBD, scheduled in Nagoya in Japan Oct 18-29.
The CBD is an international comprehensive treaty covering all aspects relating to biodiversity. There are 193 countries party to the convention.
Ramesh, who will be attending the conference Oct 23-25, said efforts will be made to finalise Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) protocol in Nagoya.
“The passage of ABS is important to India as it ensures benefit-sharing by foreign companies using our bioresources and preventing biopiracy,” he said.
India, along with Brazil, will also pitch for including human pathogens in framework of ABS. Human pathogens are disease causing organism.
“Foreign companies come and take disease causing organism from us. They then make drugs and sell it back to us at high prices,” he said.
Ramesh said the protocol won’t be acceptable to India without human pathogens and derivatives of bioresources.
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