-The Hindu   Countries endowed with genetic resources contained in rich flora and fauna will welcome the addition of 19 party-signatories to the Nagoya Protocol, which forms part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. India has been a votary of the accord, which aims at promoting fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, and informed, agreed terms of access to such wealth. The protocol...

-The United Nations   Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the world to recognize the right of indigenous peoples to control their intellectual property, saying they needed help to protect, develop and receive fair compensation for their cultural heritage and traditional knowledge. “Indigenous peoples face many challenges in maintaining their identity, traditions and customs, and their cultural contributions are at times exploited and commercialized, with little or no recognition,” Mr. Ban said in a...

-The United Nations   Twelve nations and the European Union today added their signatures to a United Nations treaty on the equitable sharing of the planet’s genetic resources in a ceremony at UN Headquarters. Representatives from Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom and the European Union signed the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, which calls for “fair and equitable sharing” of...

Forested areas in Europe, North America, the Caucasus and Central Asia have been increasing steadily, growing by 25 million hectares over the past two decades, the United Nations said today, citing diseases, insects and storms aggravated by climatic factors as the major threats to the ongoing health of woodlands. “In addition to forest area, the volume of wood in pan-European forests is growing by over 430 million cubic metres every year...

The agreement that was recently concluded at the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP-10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at Nagoya in Japan will go down in history as the second most important global initiative, after the CBD itself, in protecting the Earth’s fast-depleting biodiversity. This is vital for sustaining life on the planet. The ball was set rolling way back in 1992 with the adoption of the...