All countries urged to ratify biodiversity pact
All countries urged to ratify biodiversity pact
JAKARTA (JP): An international conference on biodiversity opened yesterday with an appeal to the United States and 34 other countries to ratify the Convention on Biodiversity.
"My first message must be to urge those lagging behind to ratify this important convention as soon as possible," Sarwono Kusumaatmadja of Indonesia said as soon as he assumed the chairmanship of the Second Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity.
To date 130 countries have ratified the convention, which commits governments to conservation and recognition of sovereignty over natural resources.
The conference is a follow up to the issuance of the convention at the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil. The first conference was held in 1994 in the Bahamas.
Representatives of about 120 countries are attending the conference which runs to Nov. 17.
The convention's executive secretary, Calestous Juma, said the rapid increase in the number of contracting parties reflected "strong commitment" to the convention's call for the fair sharing of benefits of the use of genetic resources.
In Asia, Thailand is among those which have not ratified the convention. United States President Bill Clinton has signed, but Congress has not yet passed it. Observers cite strong U.S. corporate interests against equal sharing of resources from developing countries.
"The U.S. will not likely ratify the convention in the near future," said noted Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, on the sidelines of the conference.
Vandana, an advisor to the Malaysia-based Third World Network, criticized the agenda of the conference which she said was largely influenced by multinational corporations investing in biotechnology.
The agenda includes discussions on intellectual property rights and access to genetic resources. The conference and other forums, she said, should maintain and progress on the major achievements of the convention and its following meetings.
These are: the recognition of sovereignty over natural resources; and efforts towards issuing safety measures on genetic engineering, called the "biosafety protocols."
"What is missing on the agenda is biopiracy," she told The Jakarta Post, referring to the piracy of biological and intellectual heritage by rich countries.
In her book entitled Biodiversity, A Third World Perspective, she estimated that the value of raw materials collected for free from the South, for pharmaceutical industries of the North, could reach US$47 billion by the year 2000.
Local non-governmental organizations also distributed copies of A Statement of Concern on the Hegemony of the North in the Biodiversity Issues.
The agendas, they said, "do not accommodate the facts of life faced by southern countries."
Vandana raised fears that the convention's focus would be diverted towards commercial interests and away from conservation measures.
There is outrage among environmentalists on this issue, she said. "Instead of using the convention to protect biodiversity and the rights of the Third World people, the convention is being turned into what we call a GATT for Genes."
Vandana was referring to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which set requirements to ensure free global trade.
She also criticized the organizers' decision to postpone discussions on collective rights of traditional communities until next year.
Intellectual property rights and collective rights of traditional communities are "two sides of one issue", she said, adding that to ensure biodiversity for the equitable welfare of all people, the issues need to be discussed together.
Executive Secretary Juma, however, argued that it is preferable to discuss the issues separately, as they come under different rules. Traditional rights will also be addressed under access to genetic resources, he said.
Sarwono commented that "new paradigms" are needed to solve the "complicated" issues of private and communal ownership.
"This could take a whole generation," he told reporters. (anr)