Also: CBD, Nagoya Protocol, Cartagena Protocol, Kunming-Montreal framework
Definition
A legally binding treaty opened for signature at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit with three objectives: conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
Before 1992, international conservation law dealt with particular species or places: migratory birds, wetlands, trade in endangered species, world heritage. The CBD was the first treaty to treat biological diversity as a whole, at the levels of genes, species and ecosystems. It also changed a basic legal idea. Genetic resources had often been treated as the "common heritage of mankind", freely collected by researchers and companies, mostly from the tropics, and turned into patented products elsewhere. The CBD affirmed that states have sovereign rights over their biological resources, and that access should depend on prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms.
The treaty was negotiated under the UN Environment Programme and opened for signature at Rio with the UNFCCC. Almost every country is a party; the United States signed but has not ratified. Its secretariat is in Montreal. India ratified it in 1994 and implemented it through the Biological Diversity Act 2002, which created the National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards and local Biodiversity Management Committees.
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