14 October 2014
Third BioTrade Congress Discusses Sustainable Business, Nagoya Protocol
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The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) organized its third BioTrade Congress under the theme, 'Promoting Sustainable use through Business Engagement' to identify tools for fostering the sustainable use and sourcing of biodiversity-based products and services.

The Congress highlighted best practices and offered recommendations for activities in a range of industries, including cosmetics, traditional medicine, fashion design and tourism.

unctad.cbd12 October 2014: The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) organized its third BioTrade Congress under the theme, ‘Promoting Sustainable use through Business Engagement.’ The Congress sought to identify tools for fostering the sustainable use and sourcing of biodiversity-based products and services, and highlighted best practices and offered recommendations for activities in a range of industries, including cosmetics, traditional medicine, fashion design and tourism.

The Congress took place on 12 October 2014 in Pyeongchang, the Republic of Korea, on the first day of the Business and Biodiversity Forum, which convened on the margins of the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 12). The event brought together the public and private sectors, civil society and international and regional organizations. In a business-to-business round table at the event, representatives from well-known brands, such as Yves Rocher, MANE Industries and Gucci, commented on the importance of incorporating consumers’ concern for sustainability into business strategies.

In his remarks at the opening ceremony, CBD Executive Secretary Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias highlighted the incorporation of biodiversity into the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as evidence of the crucial role the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets play in moving toward a sustainable economy.

Participants heard from speakers at a series of sessions throughout the day, covering: engaging business in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals; the implications of the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) for biotrade and biodiversity-related businesses; Andean biotrade success stories from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF); and practical tools for sustainable sourcing of biodiversity.

The day also saw the launch of UNCTAD’s Handbook, ‘The Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol: Intellectual Property Implications,’ which aims to provide guidance on intellectual property (IP) issues where the Nagoya Protocol is more silent. In presenting the Handbook, representatives from UNCTAD highlighted the importance of IP for ABS.

The Congress was organized jointly with the CBD Secretariat. Notably, the Congress coincided with the entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol. [III BioTrade Congress Website] [CBD Executive Secretary Statement] [III BioTrade Congress Agenda] [Publication: The Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol: Intellectual Property Implications] [IISD RS Sources]


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