India was one of the 51 countries which signed the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP MOP 6) protocol and was in the process of ratifying it. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties which began here today , the Conference of Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COPMOP-5) Mr Farooqui said the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress was adopted at the last meeting of the Parties in Nagoya Japan in 2010.
India is in the process of ratifying the Protocol on Liability and Redress, under Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD), he said and adding currently the process was under inter-ministerial consultations. To a question, he said India was one of the only 10 or 12 countries which had legislation that was broadly in line with what the Nagoya Protocol says.
The NBA has signed 100 specific agreements with local communities on access and benefit sharing of biological resources and raditional knowledge, he said. Mr.Farooqui said the government of India has sanctioned Rs 300 crore for a capacity-building initiative to meet the obligations of access and profit sharing under Nagoya Protocol.
Under the initiative, which will become operational next year, the funds approved by the Ministry of Finance , would be spent on People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) and on strengthening of state biodiversity boards and National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), he added. UNI