Prelude to biodiversity conference gets under way

The seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 7) yesterday began in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon.

The event is a prelude to the 12th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP 12), scheduled to take place from Oct. 6 to Oct 17. The biennial conference will adopt the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization. The Nagoya Protocol is a legal framework that governs the access to genetic material and provides rules for both users, such as companies and research institutes, and providers of genetic resources to share the benefits arising from their utilization. It has been signed by 50 of the CBD’s member states, excluding Korea, and the European Union.

About 20,000 participants from the 193 member countries and other stakeholders will visit Korea to discuss and evaluate sustainable development policies during the CBD-COP 12 and its side events.