9. Convention on Biological Diversity | The Rio Earth Summit, 1992

This is the 9th post in Environmental Law, Unit V — this post covers the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and its most significant binding outcome for biodiversity, the Convention on Biological Diversity, twenty years after Stockholm and building directly on the sustainable development concept from the previous post.

The Problem This Topic Solves

By 1992, the Brundtland Commission's "Our Common Future" had given the world a working definition of sustainable development, but a definition alone does not conserve a single forest or species. Biological diversity in particular — the variety of species, genetic variation within species, and the diversity of ecosystems themselves — was disappearing at an accelerating rate through habitat destruction, over-exploitation, and pollution, and unlike the Ramsar Convention's focus on one type of ecosystem (wetlands), there was no comprehensive global treaty addressing biodiversity loss across all ecosystems. A second, related problem had also become urgent: genetic resources from developing countries (plants, seeds, micro-organisms) were increasingly being used by companies, mostly in developed countries, to develop valuable commercial products — medicines, seeds, cosmetics — with little or no benefit returning to the country or communities that had conserved and supplied the resource in the first place, a practice this subject's Unit III Glossary post on "Biopiracy" already introduced.

The Rio Earth Summit

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), commonly called the Rio Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 3 to 14 June 1992 — twenty years after Stockholm, and the largest environmental conference held up to that time. It produced five major outputs: the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (27 Principles, building on and expanding Stockholm's 26); Agenda 21, a comprehensive but non-binding blueprint for sustainable development covering nearly every sector of environmental policy; a non-binding statement of Forest Principles; and, most importantly for binding legal obligations, two treaties opened for signature at the Summit itself — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), covered later in this unit, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the subject of this post.

The Convention on Biological Diversity — Three Objectives

The CBD was adopted on 5 June 1992, opened for signature at Rio, and entered into force on 29 December 1993. Article 1 sets out three equally-ranked objectives, which is itself a distinctive feature of the Convention: first, the conservation of biological diversity; second, the sustainable use of its components; and third — and most novel for an environmental treaty — the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources, including through appropriate access to those resources and appropriate transfer of relevant technologies. This third objective directly targets the biopiracy problem described above: it recognises that States have sovereign rights over their own genetic resources (a departure from treating such resources as the "common heritage of mankind" freely available to all), and requires that access to those resources be subject to the providing country's prior informed consent and on mutually agreed terms, with benefits from their commercial use shared fairly with the country and communities of origin.

Two Key Supplementary Protocols

The CBD's framework has since been strengthened by two supplementary protocols negotiated under its Conference of the Parties. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000) addresses the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology, particularly their potential transboundary movement and effects on biodiversity. The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (2010, in force 2014) directly operationalises the CBD's third objective, setting out detailed procedural rules for access and benefit-sharing (commonly abbreviated ABS) that countries and companies must follow when using another country's genetic resources.

India's Implementation

India ratified the CBD in 1994 and, to give it domestic legal effect, enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 — already covered as a Bare-Act post in this subject's Unit III — which established a three-tier institutional structure: the National Biodiversity Authority at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards at the state level, and Biodiversity Management Committees at the local body level, together regulating access to India's biological resources and associated traditional knowledge and ensuring benefit-sharing consistent with the CBD's third objective.

• The Rio Earth Summit (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, produced the Rio Declaration (27 Principles), Agenda 21, the Forest Principles, and opened the UNFCCC and the CBD for signature.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted 5 June 1992, entered into force 29 December 1993, and has three objectives: conservation, sustainable use, and fair and equitable benefit-sharing from genetic resources.
• India ratified the CBD in 1994 and implemented it domestically through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (covered in this subject's Unit III), establishing the National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards, and Biodiversity Management Committees.

• Unlike the Ramsar Convention (limited to wetlands), the CBD is comprehensive, covering biodiversity at the species, genetic, and ecosystem levels across all environments.
• Two key supplementary protocols: the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000), addressing living modified organisms, and the Nagoya Protocol (2010, in force 2014), operationalising access and benefit-sharing (ABS) procedures.
• The CBD's benefit-sharing objective directly addresses "biopiracy" — the uncompensated commercial exploitation of a developing country's genetic resources or traditional knowledge, already introduced as a Glossary term in this subject's Unit III.

A Practical Example

Suppose a foreign pharmaceutical company wishes to research a medicinal plant traditionally used by an Indian tribal community, hoping to develop and patent a new drug from it. Under the framework the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol establish, and as implemented in India through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the company cannot simply collect the plant and its associated traditional knowledge freely; it must obtain approval through India's National Biodiversity Authority, agree on terms for accessing the resource, and commit to sharing a fair portion of any resulting commercial benefits with India and the community that conserved and used the plant's knowledge — exactly the safeguard the CBD's third objective was designed to guarantee.

Quick Revision Points

• Rio Earth Summit (UNCED): Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992; produced Rio Declaration (27 Principles), Agenda 21, Forest Principles; opened UNFCCC and CBD for signature.
• CBD: adopted 5 June 1992; in force 29 December 1993; three objectives — conservation, sustainable use, fair and equitable benefit-sharing.
• Supplementary protocols: Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000); Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing (2010/2014).
• India: ratified CBD 1994; implemented via Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards, Biodiversity Management Committees).
• CBD's third objective directly targets "biopiracy".