Biodiversity meeting seeks targets, pact on genetic resource use+

TOKYO, Sept. 19 Kyodo -
An international conference on biodiversity set to take place in Japan in
October aims to set new targets to protect various organisms in the world and
conclude a global pact stipulating how genetic resources are used in fields
such as drug development.
Talks are likely to be tough, however, as member countries are split on many
issues, such as how people should conserve and use biodiversity in a
sustainable way, as well as the use of a variety of living things that exist in
an environment, according to people close to the negotiations.
The 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity, or COP10, will be held Oct. 18-29 in the central Japanese
city of Nagoya. The last three days are scheduled for ministerial-level
discussions, which are expected to culminate to agreements on the two major
topics.
The new post-2010 targets for conserving organisms will be considered in two
phases -- short-term targets covering the period until 2020 and medium- to
long-term targets through 2050 -- as efforts to prevent further loss of
biodiversity around the globe.
Member states are divided on many specific conservation issues, including
deciding on the proportion of protective zones to be set aside at sea and on
land, where development activities are to be restricted.
Concerning the use of genetic resources, industrialized and developing nations
have conflicting interests. Such resources often exist in less developed
countries but can bring wealth to companies in advanced states that develop
them into successful products. But the profits are not often sufficiently
returned to the country of origin.
Resource-rich African countries are calling for benefit-sharing, not only for
materials found on their land but also for the components processed from such
resources. But industrialized nations are reluctant to expand profit
allocations to such countries.
Realizing benefit-sharing in the countries of origin has been one of the aims
of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was adopted in 1992 to promote
the conservation of biodiversity. The convention has more than 190 members,
including Japan, but the United States is not a party to the pact.
==Kyodo
2010-09-19 22:16:28