Ecology-and-environment / Climate Change / Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
- It entered into force on 29 December 1993. It has 3 main objectives:
- The conservation of biological diversity
- The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity
- The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources
- Parties are obligated to inventory and monitor biodiversity, incorporate the concepts of conservation and sustainable development into national strategies and economic development, and preserve indigenous conservation practices.
- The Convention has three protocols.
- The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000) addresses the safe transfer, handling, and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) that may have adverse effects on biodiversity, taking into account human health.
- The Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol (2010) provides international rules and procedures on liability and redress for damage to biodiversity resulting from LMOs.
- The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits arising from their Utilization (2010) sets out an international framework for the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and transfer of relevant technologies.
- Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer & Montreal Protocol
- In 1974 scientists published their first scientific hypotheses that chemicals we produced could harm the stratospheric ozone layer.
- In 1977 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concluded a World Plan of Action on the Ozone Layer, which called for intensive international research and monitoring of the ozone layer, and in 1981, UNEP’s Governing Council authorized UNEP to draft a global framework convention on stratospheric ozone protection.
- The Vienna Convention, concluded in 1985, is a framework agreement in which States agree to cooperate in relevant research and scientific assessments of the ozone problem, to exchange information, and to adopt “appropriate measures” to prevent activities that harm the ozone layer. The obligations are general and contain no specific limits on chemicals that deplete the ozone layer.
- The Vienna Convention was opened for signature in March, 1985. A working group under UNEP began negotiations on a protocol, and the Montreal Protocol was concluded in September, 1987, only nine months after the formal diplomatic negotiations opened in December, 1986. It went into effect on January 1, 1989.
- A State must be party to the Vienna Convention in order to become a party to the Montreal Protocol. The Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol established the precedent in UNEP for completing a framework agreement, followed later by one or more Protocols. This precedent has been used frequently since then, as in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
- The Montreal Protocol controls the production and consumption of specific chemicals, none of which occur naturally: CFCs, halons, fully Halogenated CFCs (HCFCs), methyl bromide, and similar chemicals. It sets specific targets for reduction and a timetable for doing so.
- The Protocol originally required parties other than developing countries to freeze consumption and production of CFCs at 1986 levels (the base year), to reduce them by 20 percent and then an additional 30 percent by 1999, and to freeze consumption of halons at 1986 levels. The formula of targets and timetables has been subsequently employed in other international agreements controlling air pollutants and in the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- The formula adopted in the Protocol equates consumption to production minus exports plus imports of the controlled chemicals. Countries must report annually on their consumption of the controlled chemicals.
- Anticipating changes in scientific knowledge about the ozone layer and emergence of new problems in implementing the Protocol, negotiators included several provisions to provide flexibility.
- The first is for Technology and Economic Assessment Panels, which provide regular expert assessments.
- The second is for differentiated procedures for altering the obligations to control substances: namely by adjustments and by amendments.
- The 1997 Montreal Amendment obligated countries to establish and implement a licensing system for the import and export of new, used, recycled and reclaimed controlled substances, and to control trade in the banned substances by parties not in compliance with the Protocol.
- The 1999 Beijing Amendment provided for a “basic domestic needs” exception for certain controlled chemicals and added bromochloromethane to the list of controlled substances. Since the Protocol went into effect, adjustments have also been made to the timetable for phasing out listed chemicals.
- The Protocol makes special provisions for certain countries. Article V gives qualifying developing countries a ten year delay in complying with targets and timetables, a separate consumption limit of 0.3 kilogram per capita, and access to the Montreal Protocol Fund to assist with compliance costs. Article 2(6) was intended to attract countries such as the former Soviet Union to join the Protocol, in that it lets a country add facilities under construction or contracted for prior to September 1987 to its base level for calculating its compliance with base year production. The Protocol also provides for “industrial rationalization” in that a party can transfer part of its calculated level of production of controlled chemicals to another party. This was not intended for transfers between developed and developing countries.
- To make the Protocol effective, countries prohibited exports and imports of controlled substances with countries not party to the Protocol. In a second stage, the trade ban would extend to products containing a controlled substance, and in a third stage to products produced with the substances. The last has been dropped from the agenda.
- One of the most significant innovations of the Protocol is the process established to address problems of noncompliance. Parties established an Implementation Committee to review annual reports from parties and developed a suite of measures that could be used in case of noncompliance, including technical assistance to enable the country to comply.
- The Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol have been quite successful as of 2009 in addressing the global problem of stratospheric ozone layer depletion. However, problems have arisen in implementing the Protocol, especially in the illegal trade in controlled substances, in the management of the large stockpiles of controlled substances, and in the elimination of certain substances, such as methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, and the HCFCs.
