| Nature talks heading for success, delegates say | ||||
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The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting has seen intensive diplomacy as delegates tried to iron out their remaining differences. The Japanese hosts in particular have been desperate for a successful end. Western nations have given ground on the thorniest issue - the equitable sharing of natural genetic resources. But resolution has not been reached on other outstanding points, such as how much of the Earth's lands and oceans should be place under protection. China has been criticised by environment campaigners for insisting that the agreement here should call for protection of no more than 6% of the marine environment - and none at all outside coastal waters. The current global target is 10%; and most countries want to see considerably more than that in the final agreement. "Six percent is ridiculous," said French Ecology Minister Chantal Jouanno. "The main problem today is the sea, so six is ridiculous in terms of the challenge we're facing here," she told BBC News. The other outstanding issue has been money, with Brazil and its allies arguing that by 2020, $200bn per year should be made available for biodiversity conservation. A deal has been reached under which developed countries will agree to have such a plan in place by 2012, when Brazil will host the second Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Poor countries have insisted that they cannot be expected to ramp up their own spending on conservation massively given the other demands on their budgets. "The forest and the other biological resources we have serve the general interests of the global environment," said Johansen Voker from Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency. 'More than words' The genetic resources issue, known as Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS), kept delegates working through Thursday night, with their ministers picking up the baton on Friday morning for an intense round of diplomacy. The ABS protocol is intended to ensure that developing countries receive recompense when products are made from genetic material of organisms from their territory - known as Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS). Hugo Schally, EU lead negotiator on the issue, outlined why the wording mattered so much. "These words are not just words, they mean differences in economic circumstances," he told BBC News. "What material does this protocol actually apply to? That means in terms of research-based industry, in terms of... economic exchanges - they're literally worth billions of dollars or euros or pounds, or whatever you want." In essence, developing nations demanded that the agreement cover anything made from this genetic material - technically known as "derivatives" - whereas western nations, where the world's pharmaceutical giants are principally based, wanted a far smaller scope. After Japan produced a version of text giving the developing world much of what it wanted, the EU and its allies conceded on most of the major points. EU leaders had told African and Asian countries it was the best deal they could ever hope to get. If the final loose ends are tied up, Japan looks set to emerge with credit having steered the tough negotiations through its final hours. "What the Japanese government really wants to do here is to get agreement so they can be proud of the Nagoya CBD," said Wakao Hanaoka, oceans campaigner with Greenpeace Japan. "What is really needed, since the Japanese government has just started its role of chairing the CBC intil 2012, is to keep doing what they have promised to international society." This meant, he suggested, taking effective conservation in the marine environment - including backing cuts in fisheries for threatened but lucrative fish such as bluefin tuna. (By Richard Black) Source: BBC News
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UN talks on a new deal aimed at protecting nature and equitably sharing in its benefits seem to be on course for a positive conclusion.
