Disclosing the country’s intention to ratify the Nagoya Protocol the Union Environment and Forest Special Secretary Farooqui said here on Monday at the margins of CoP-11 that India has already some provisions in the legislation to take precautions while dealing with genetically modified crops and related issues. He exuded hope that the protocol ratification process will be completed soon.
Saying that the country was one among the few countries to make legislations in tune with the Nagoya Protocol, the Special Secretary informed that the country has entered into agreements with about 100 organizations for utilizing bio-resources from India. He said, the Government has spent 300 crore rupees so far for setting People’s Biodiversity Registers in the country and also to strengthen the National Biodiversity Authority as well as State Biodiversity Boards in line with the Nagoya Protocol,
Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biodiversity, Braulio Ferreira De Souza Dias said the five-day conference of Meeting of Parties on Cartagena Protocol that began today as prelude to the Conference of Parties on Convention on Biodiversity will discuss a gamut of issues related to Biosafety. The deliberations will focus on reviewing the progress on compliance by member countries on Cartagena Protocol, management of transportation of Living Modified Organism (LMOs) and exchange of information on capacity building with respect to biosafety. The Socio-Economic aspects of using LMO and mobilization of financial resources will also be discussed on the occasion.
About 12,000 delegates from 193 countries have registered so far to attend the Biodiversity Conference. The Conference will also see the participation of Youth, women, business organizations and public representatives from different countries in 300 side events. The prominent among them are Conference of Mayors, Conference of Parliamentarians, Youth for Biodiversity and Science Express Biodiversity Exhibition Train.