Nagoya Protocol

Geography glossary

Also called: Access and benefit sharing · Topic: Biodiversity and its Conservation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Nagoya Protocol is an extra agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It was adopted in 2010 and came into force in 2014. It sets the rules for Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS): anyone who uses genetic resources (the useful genes in plants, animals and microbes) or the traditional knowledge linked to them must get permission first. They must also share the benefits fairly with the country and the communities that provided them.

It turns the CBD's third objective, the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources, into working rules. Its main aim is to stop biopiracy against megadiverse countries like India.

Explanation

Where it comes from: the CBD and its third objective

  • CBD (1992): a legally binding treaty on biodiversity. It was opened for signature at the Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992, and came into force on 29 December 1993.

  • The CBD has three objectives: 1. Conservation of biological diversity. 2. Sustainable use of its parts. 3. Fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from using genetic resources.

  • A protocol is an extra agreement attached to a parent treaty. It deals with one narrow issue in detail.

  • The CBD has two protocols:
  • Cartagena (2000 / 2003) covers biosafety.
  • Nagoya (2010 / 2014) covers the third objective, ABS.

The problem it solves: biopiracy

  • Biopiracy: using a country's biological resources or traditional knowledge for business, often through patents, without permission or fair payment.
  • How it happens:
  • A company or researcher takes a plant, or a use of it that local people already know.
  • They patent it as a "new invention" abroad.

  • The source country and its communities get nothing.

  • Indian cases:

  • Neem: a patent granted in Europe for neem's antifungal use was challenged by India and later cancelled.

  • Turmeric: a US patent on using turmeric to heal wounds was cancelled after India showed that this use was already old knowledge.

  • Lesson: India needed to document its traditional knowledge so that such patents could be blocked. The Nagoya Protocol gives rules to prevent biopiracy in future.

How ABS works: the two parts

  • Access: a user who wants a genetic resource or traditional knowledge must first get prior informed consent from the provider country and, where relevant, from the local or Indigenous community. Prior informed consent means permission given in advance, after being told how the resource will be used.
  • Benefit-sharing: the user and provider agree on mutually agreed terms, meaning a deal both sides accept, for sharing the benefits.
  • Money benefits: royalties or a share of profits.

  • Non-money benefits: research results, training, or technology.

  • Result: the benefits go back to the countries and communities that conserved the resource. This gives them a reason to keep conserving it.

What it needs to work at home

  • Each country needs its own law and institutions to give permission and check that benefits are shared.
  • India's Biological Diversity Act sets up a three-level system to carry out the CBD at home:
  • National Biodiversity Authority at the national level.
  • State Biodiversity Boards at the state level.
  • Biodiversity Management Committees at the local level.

Where it occurs

  • Global: it works under the CBD, whose Secretariat is in Montreal, Canada. Almost every country has joined the CBD, but the USA has signed and not ratified it, so it is not a Party.
  • Name: the protocol is named after Nagoya, Japan, the city where it was adopted.
  • India: it is put into practice through the Biological Diversity Act, with the National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards and local Biodiversity Management Committees.
  • Neem and turmeric: these patent fights in Europe and the USA are the classic Indian examples behind the need for ABS.
  • Later development, COP16, Cali, Colombia (October–November 2024):
  • It created the Cali Fund. Industries that profit from digital sequence information (DSI) must pay into it. DSI means genetic codes from organism samples that are stored and shared digitally. The main industries are pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and agriculture [1].
  • At least half of the Cali Fund is meant to support Indigenous peoples and local communities, including the women and youth in those communities [1].
  • It agreed to create a permanent subsidiary body for Indigenous peoples and local communities under Article 8(j) of the CBD [1].

Don't confuse with

  • Cartagena Protocol (2000 / 2003): also a CBD protocol, but it is about the safe movement of LMOs (living modified organisms, i.e. GMOs) across borders under Advance Informed Agreement. Nagoya is about ABS, not biosafety.
  • CITES (signed 1973, in force 1975): a separate treaty that controls international trade in wild animals and plants through three appendices. Neither CBD protocol deals with wildlife trade.
  • Cali Fund (COP16, 2024): a fund for benefits from digital sequence information, meaning genetic data shared digitally. The Nagoya Protocol covers access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge. The Cali Fund came later to deal with benefits from DSI [1].
  • CBD itself (1992 / 1993): the parent treaty, which sets the three objectives. Nagoya is the protocol that gives detailed rules for only the third objective.

Prelims Hooks

  • Nagoya Protocol: adopted 2010, in force 2014. Subject: Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
  • Protocol–subject pairs: Cartagena = biosafety and LMOs. Nagoya = ABS and biopiracy. Trap: neither deals with wildlife trade, which is CITES.
  • The CBD's third objective (fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources) is the one Nagoya puts into practice.
  • Parent treaty: CBD, in force 29 December 1993, Secretariat in Montreal. The USA is not a Party.
  • India's three-level ABS system: National Biodiversity Authority, then State Biodiversity Boards, then Biodiversity Management Committees.
  • Cali Fund (COP16, 2024): paid by users of digital sequence information. At least half goes to Indigenous peoples and local communities [1].

Mains Points

  • Fair benefit-sharing is now a key GS-III issue.
  • The neem and turmeric patent fights showed that India's traditional knowledge could be patented abroad without permission or payment.
  • The Nagoya Protocol, and then the Cali Fund for digital sequence information (2024), push benefits back to the countries and communities that provide genetic resources [1].

  • This matters because India is a megadiverse country with a lot of documented traditional knowledge.

  • ABS links conservation to local livelihoods.

  • When communities get a share of the benefits, they have a reason to keep conserving the resource.
  • This matches NCERT's point that local communities must take part and that the hard part is keeping conservation going.

  • India's Biodiversity Management Committees bring this down to the local level.

  • Gaps that remain.

  • The USA is outside the CBD, so its users are not bound in the same way.
  • Genetic data now moves digitally as DSI, which is hard to trace back to its source. The Cali Fund is the first step to deal with this [1].
  • Money for biodiversity depends on rich countries. This delayed COP16 until it resumed in Rome, 25–27 February 2025 [2].

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1COP16: Landmark biodiversity agreements adopted (UN News)news.un.org · tier 2
  2. 2Countries to Resume Crucial Biodiversity Discussions in Rome, 25-27 February 2025 (CBD)cbd.int · tier 2