The Convention on Biological Diversity

In one line

The biodiversity convention has three objectives and it settles, in its third article, that a State's biological resources are its own, which is why the convention could be agreed at all.

In exam wording: the Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted at Nairobi on 22 May 1992, opened for signature at Rio on 5 June 1992 and in force from 29 December 1993, states in article 1 three objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and appropriate transfer of relevant technologies and by appropriate funding.

Article 1: the three objectives

Conservation. Keeping what exists.

Sustainable use. Using components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations. That is article 2's own definition of sustainable use and it is worth quoting.

Fair and equitable benefit sharing. The third objective is the one the developing States came for, and without it there would be no convention.

The three are stated as one sentence with three limbs, and they are meant to be read together. Conservation alone is what the industrialised States wanted; benefit sharing alone is what a resource-rich State might have wanted; the convention exists because the three were bound into one instrument.

Article 2: the definitions

Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part, and includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. That three-level definition is the single most quotable sentence in the convention.

Genetic resources means genetic material of actual or potential value. Genetic material means any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity.

In situ conservation means the conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated or cultivated species, in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties.

Ex situ conservation means the conservation of components of biological diversity outside their natural habitats.

Biotechnology means any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof to make or modify products or processes for specific use.

Protected area, habitat, ecosystem, country of origin of genetic resources, country providing genetic resources, domesticated or cultivated species, sustainable use and technology are all defined too.