Thaindian News

New Delhi, Apr 20 (ANI): The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing by India.The Nagoya Protocol would also contribute to the other two objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) relating to conservation and sustainable use, since benefits accruing from utilization of genetic resources would act as incentive to biodiversity-rich countries and their local communities to conserve and sustainably use their biodiversity. India would be hosting the next Conference of Parties (CoP) to the CBD in October 2011. This will give India an opportunity to consolidate, scale up and showcase its strengths and initiatives on biodiversity before the world. As the incoming Presidency of CoP, India would be involved in setting the global agenda on biodiversity for the next few years. So far six countries have signed the protocol including three megadiverse countries (namely Brazil, Mexico and Colombia). India is one of the identified megadiverse countries rich in biodiversity. With only 2.4 pet cent of the earth’s land area, India accounts for 7-8 per cent of the recorded species of the world. India is also rich in associated traditional knowledge, which is both coded as in the ancient texts of Indian systems of medicines such as Ayurveda, Unani and Sidha and also non-coded, as it exists in oral undocumented traditions. The genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge can be used to develop a wide range of products and services for human benefit, such as medicines, agricultural practices, cosmetics etc. It is expected that the protocol, which is a key missing pillar of the CBD, would address the concern of misappropriation or biopiracy of its genetic resources. (ANI)