** Topic: BIODIV CONVENTION ENTERS INTO LAW ** ** Written 7:41 am Dec 29, 1993 by gn:ipaunep in cdp:biodiversity ** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE A NEW YEAR TREATY FOR A NEW ERA GENEVA/NAIROBI, 29 December 1993 (UNEP) -- Barely 18 months after its signing at last year's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Convention on Biological Diversity today becomes international law. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), hailed the occasion as "one of the most significant recent developments in international law and in international relations relating to environment and development". In the face of the greatest extinction of species for 60 million years as a result of human activities, the treaty commits nations to protect biological diversity -- ecosystems and genetic resources as well as species. The treaty pledges them to use sustainably the world's plants, animals and all other organisms, and seeks to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that result from the use of genetic resources, particularly for developing countries. Angela Cropper, a Trinidad and Tobago national appointed as Executive Secretary of the Geneva-based Interim Secretariat last October, observed: "At Rio de Janeiro it was generally thought that it would take three years to obtain 30 ratifications so that the treaty could come into force. In fact, it took just half that time." In a special statement Ms Dowdeswell declared that the speedy ratification "is a measure of our concern for protecting this planet's natural bounty". The benefits reaped from biodiversity can be found everywhere. The rosy periwinkle, a plant found only in the Madagascar rain forests, has proved of enormous value in combating childhood leukaemia. The bark of the Pacific yew in the northwestern United States is being used to combat certain forms of cancer. More than a quarter of all prescriptions in modern Western medicine contain active ingredients extracted from wild plants. Every variety of wheat grown in Canada contains genes introduced from as many as 14 other countries. A "useless" wild wheat plant from Turkey is used to give commercial wheat crops resistance to disease, while a wild species of coffee, from Madagascar, does the same. The planet's food supply also depends on diversity -- the genetic uniformity of some crops has allowed pests to sweep across countries, causing crippling damage and, at times, enormous loss of life. Habitat destruction is another major threat to biodiversity. It is also lost through over-harvesting, chemical pollution and the inappropriate introduction of foreign plants and animals. Climate change threatens to accelerate the current destruction. The ratification that made the Convention international law came from Mongolia on 30 September. Ninety days later -- today 29 December -- the treaty becomes a binding legal document for the countries that have ratified it, 37 to date. By mid-December 167 States had signed the Convention, including the ratifiers. Many Governments that have signed are in process of securing ratification, including the United States and countries of the European Union. "It is to be hoped that States that have signed will make New Year resolutions to ratify the biodiversity agreement early in 1994", Ms. Cropper suggested. "Another resolution would be to start implementing it. The Convention's commitments need to be integrated into national laws and policies and into countries' plans for managing their resources of plants, animals and natural habitats." The first meeting of Governments that have ratified the Convention (the first Conference of Parties) is tentatively scheduled for 28 November - 9 December next year to take some of the fundamental decisions for advancing the Convention's provisions. Under the treaty, countries promise to develop national plans for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, through making inventories of resources and integrating such plans into development strategies. They are also required to enact laws to protect threatened species and habitats and expand natural protected areas. Developed countries are to assist poorer nations in carrying out their conservation programmes through the use of appropriate technologies. The treaty also says that developed countries shall "provide new and additional financial resources" to developing countries so that they can carry out their treaty obligations. Agreements for access to genetic resources and the transfer of biotechnologies are to be promoted. Countries are encouraged to preserve the traditional knowledge of indigenous communities in the conservation and use of biological diversity. According to the Convention, this should be done with the active involvement of indigenous peoples who possess such knowledge, so that they can benefit from their use. In chronological order the following countries were the first 37 to ratify the Biological Diversity Convention by 16 December: Mauritius, Seychelles, Marshall Islands, Maldives, Monaco, Canada, China, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Ecuador, Fiji, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Guinea, Armenia, Japan, Zambia, Peru, Australia, Norway, Tunisia, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Burkina Faso, Belarus, Uganda, New Zealand, Mongolia, Philippines, Uruguay, Nauru, Nepal, Czech Republic, Barbados and Sweden. - 30 - For more information, please contact: Interim Secretariat for Tel: (41-22) 979-9111 Convention on Biological Diversity Fax: (41-22) 797-2512 15, chemin des anemones CP 356. CH-1219 Chatelaine Geneva, Switzerland News Release 1993/36 ** End of text from cdp:biodiversity **