China Dialogue Visits CBCGDF: In-depth Exchanges with Zhou Jinfeng on “Nagoya Protocol”
2018/12/28 17:09:00 本站

On 28 December, China Dialogue visited China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) and held an exclusive interview with CBCGDF’s Secretary-General Dr. Zhou Jinfeng.

One focus of the interview is to explore the present implementation stage of the “Nagoya Protocol”, especially with respect to its principle of “Equitable Sharing of Benefits from Biological Genetic Resources.”

The “Nagoya Protocol” was agreed on at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 10), which was held in October 2010 in Japan. Former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon referred to the “Nagoya Protocol” as being of monumental value for the acquiring and equal sharing of biological genetic resources, because of its innovative approaches of preserving the rapidly diminishing biological resources and its potential profound benefits for all stakeholders in biodiversity conservation. The principle of “Equitable Sharing of Benefits” is one hallmark of the protocol, which states that benefits from products developed from organisms’ genomes sourced from developing countries should be properly shared with the sourcing developing countries.

One reason why the “Nagoya Protocol" is of special interest here is that the year 2020 marks an important timeline for CBD: On one hand, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) is going to take place in 2020 in Beijing, which is another practice of China's promise to engage more deeply in global environmental governance; on the other, 2020 is the last year when the Aichi Targets reached the COP10 would remain effective.

During the interview, Dr. Zhou’s email correspondence with Prof. Ohmi Ohnishi from the Agricultural College, Kyoto University became one focus of attention. In February 2018, Dr. Zhou wrote an Open Consultation Letter to Prof. Ohmi Ohnishi about the “Equitable Sharing of Benefits” regarding a new buckwheat species, which had been developed by Prof. Ohmi Ohnishi's research team based on wild buckwheat native to Yunnan, China. Considerable benefits could be realized by Prof. Ohmi Ohnishi’s buckwheat, and more importantly, the “Equitable Sharing of Benefits” in the “Nagoya Protocol” should apply perfectly to Prof. Ohmi Ohnishi’s buckwheat. Yet, no benefits so far have been properly shared with the sourcing Yunnan province so far. After noticing this, Dr. Zhou decided to immediately write a letter to Prof. Ohmi Ohnishi, arguing for benefits sharing for locals in Yunnan, China.

“CBD COP15 is supposed to be an international platform where good Chinese stories and voices on biodiversity conservation should be heard by the rest of the world”, said Dr. Zhou. Admittedly, there remains much to be done given the gloomy future of biodiversity conservation. Prof. Ohmi Ohnishi’s buckwheat represents only a tip of the iceberg, which makes clear the urgency of taking transformative actions. But, as Dr. Zhou has firmly believed, only through the transmission of Chinese good stories and experiences accumulated from year-long dedication to biodiversity conservation can the future of the Earth’s biological ecosystem be fundamentally reshaped for the better.


Please find details about the Open Discussion Letter by Dr. Zhou to Professor Ohmi Ohnishi on http://www.cbcgdf.org/English/NewsShow/5012/4412.html.


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(Photo credit: CBCGDF)


By / Lu Lei