Brazil is close to ratifying its accession to the Nagoya Protocol. After waiting almost ten years, the Chamber of Deputies approved, on Wednesday, July 8, Legislative Decree Project 324/20, which authorizes the government to ratify the document. The protocol, drafted at the COP10 on Biodiversity in Japan, regulates access to and benefit-sharing of genetic resources from biodiversity. The text now goes to the Senate.
The approval comes at a time when the government has been called upon by international investors and a group of more than 40 CEOs of companies operating in the country to ensure environmental preservation in the country. According to the president of CEBDS, Marina Grossi, one of the signatories of the Business Sector Statement, the ratification of the protocol brings numerous economic, social and environmental benefits to the country.
“Accession to the Nagoya Protocol can unlock investments to harness biodiversity as a source of wealth, further increasing the value of conserving our ecosystems. The document addresses access to genetic heritage and the sharing of benefits resulting from the development of products made from native plants, animals or microorganisms,” he explains. Ratification of the Protocol is one of the conditions for Brazil’s participation in the COP15 on Biodiversity, which will take place in 2021 in Kunming, China, and will define new biodiversity conservation goals.
The president of the Environmental Front in the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Agostinho, agrees that the ratification of the Protocol is an opportunity. “Everything will depend on whether the government will seize this opportunity and encourage research and development based on biodiversity,” he ponders.
The text of the agreement approved by the member countries of the CBD and which are part of the Nagoya Protocol defines the bases for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits with countries or traditional communities and indigenous peoples. “The protocol promotes respect for the rights of holders of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge,” emphasizes Bráulio Dias, former executive secretary of the CBD.
Nagoya Protocol
The document promotes advances in the development of the bioeconomy in the country, which holds more than 20% of all the biodiversity on the planet. The Nagoya Protocol regulates the use of genetic resources between providers (local and indigenous communities) and users (researchers and industries) and establishes that profits from the production and commercialization of any products resulting from the exploitation of genetic resources must be shared with the country of origin.
With information from WWF-Brazil It is Chamber of Deputies News Agency.
