Twelve more countries and the European Union have signed the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing of genetic resources.
The Nagoya Protocol to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity was completed in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010 (IPW, Biodiversity/Genetic Resources/Biotech, 29 October 2010), and will take effect 90 days after the fiftieth country ratifies it. After a CBD member signs the protocol, it must then ratify it at the national level.
The protocol provides guidelines for fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources, intended to help developing countries protect against misappropriation.
Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom and the European Union signed at UN headquarters on 23 June.
There were already 21 signatories (IPW, IP Live, 12 May 2011).
The UN press release is here.
like that of Nagoya Protocol to conserve and share the benefits of biological diversity, there must counterpart protocol of technological sharing to benefit the biological rich countries as they have to devote much of their resources in preservation and conservation of biological diversity which is an asset of human society. Sometimes this conservation retards the pace of industrial and technological development in those countries. Hence Technologically advanced countries must be legally bound to reciprocate innovations and fund the biological rich but technologically poor ciuntries to create a balanced and sustainable global atomsphere.