New Delhi: After hectic negotiations over
climate change ended at Copenhagen, India is now gearing up to
fight a battle to prevent bio-piracy and ensure access to
bio-resources and their benefit sharing at Nagoya meet in
Japan slated for October.
"Nagoya meet is crucial for developing nations like
India which is seeking a single legally binding international
pact to deal with access and benefit sharing of bio-resources,
a move vehemently opposed by the rich countries," Environment
Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters here.
At the tenth Conference of Parties (CoP) to the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), one of the major
item for consideration is the adoption of an international
protocol on access and benefit sharing (ABS) and a text is
being negotiated in this regard.
"This provides an opportunity to bio-diversity rich
countries like India to realise benefits for its people from
the use of this bio-diversity," he added.
Indicating that hectic negotiations await at Nagoya,
Ramesh while equating Nigoya meet with Copenhagen, however,
said, "but position of the developed and developing nations on
the issue of bio-diversity is entirely opposite to what was at
Copenhagen on climate change."
"What Kyoto Protocol was to UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), Nagoya Protocol will be to the CBD,"
Ramesh said and added that developed countries preferences
ranged from voluntary guidelines to an international regime
comprising legally binding and non-legally binding instruments
but not a single agreement.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 04, 2010, 23:43