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Norway has ratified the Nagoya Protocol

Norway deposited the instrument of ratification at the UN Treaty Event. Norway is the first developed country to ratify the Protocol. 
 
Genetic resources are of high economic value. The Nagoya Protocol is an international legally binding agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way.

– I am glad that Norway takes the lead amongst the developed countries in questions regarding the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources. We already have national legislation, namely the Nature Diversity Act in force, which contains a chapter on access to genetic material, says Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås, Minister of International Development.

The Ministry of the Environment is in the process of developing regulations on access and utilisation of Norwegian genetic material in cooperation with the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, and on traditional knowledge associated with genetic material.

The Protocol is important to achieve the third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The ratification contributes to Aichi target 16: ”By 2015, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization is in force and operational, consistent with national legislation”.

– By ratifying the agreement we make it clear that Norway takes our common environmental challenges and commitments seriously, says Solhjell. Norway signed the Protocol in May 2013 and the Parliament gave its consent to ratification unanimously in June 2013. The Protocol enters into force when 50 states have ratified it.

About the protocol

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding, thereby contributing to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components. 

It was adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its tenth meeting on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. The Nagoya Protocol will enter into force 90 days after the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification.

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