India for early operationalisation of Nagaya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) is a new international treaty adopted under the auspices of the CBD.

Inaugurating the Second Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Nagoya Protocol (ICNP-2) on ABS here, Environment Ministry Secretary T Chatterjee said India was one of the first countries to put in place operational domestic legislative procedures to implement the access and benefit sharing provisions of the CBD as early as 2002.

While India was working towards strengthening its domestic ABS procedures and institutional mechanisms, 100 ABS agreements have already been signed by the Government through the National Biodiversity Authority, and benefits have also begin to reach to communities now, he said.

"An early and effective operationalisation of the Nagoya Protocol is crucial for a balanced implementation of the Convention itself," Chatterjee said.

Though the Protocol has received 92 signatures signalling the intent of nations to abide by the Protocol, the process of ratifications has been admittedly slow, presumably because this treaty envisages that countries put in place the required legal, policy or administrative measures to implement the provisions of the Protocol, M F Farooqui, Special Secretary of Environment Ministry, said.

"Very few countries have domestic ABS mechanisms in place. However, there was hope that the process of ratifying the Protocol would pick up fast ensuring an early entry into force of this treaty," he said.