Some 2,000 delegates from more than 150 countries will congregate in Hyderabad on Monday for the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP MOP 6).
Being the host, the city of pearls has been decked up for the 19-day Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is being held for the first time in India from October 1.
All roads leading to the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), the venue of the meeting, have been spruced up and re-carpeted. Scores of artists have painted the flyovers on the way to the venue with their choicest colours and captivating designs.
According to the CBD secretariat, the logo of the convention, with the slogan ‘Nature Protects if She is Protected’, symbolises the cycle of life, with animal forms (a tiger and whale) circling a human being holding a basket of grain.
The convention, expected to be attended by 8,000 delegates from 193 countries, also marks the 20th anniversary of the CBD, an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity.
The Cartagena Protocol Biosafety was adopted on 29 January 2000 and entered into force on September 11, 2003. The Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress was adopted at the last meeting of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan in 2010. It received 51 signatures and two ratifications by March 6, 2012 when it was closed for signature. The Supplementary Protocol will enter into force 90 days after 40 Parties ratify it.
At the five-day COP MOP 6 meeting, delegates are expected to discuss issues relating to capacity-building, biosafety clearing-house, financial mechanism and resources for the Protocol’s implementation, risk assessment and risk management, socio-economic considerations concerning LMOs (living modified organisms), compliance with the Protocol’s provisions as well as assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Protocol. The decisions taken on all these issues are expected to contribute to the realisation of the vision of the strategic plan, “Making biological diversity adequately protected from any adverse effects of LMOs.”
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CBD executive secretary Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias stated that COP MOP 6 provides yet another opportunity to further strengthen international cooperation and build global political support for the Protocol and its Supplementary Protocol. It also presents an opportunity to lay new strategies and mobilise resources for the implementation of the two treaties.
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is scheduled to attend the high-level segment meeting on October 18. In her welcome message, Union minister of environment and forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, urged delegates to join hands and engage in a meaningful dialogue aimed at achieving path-breaking resolutions for preserving our common future.
On its part, the state government had directed the power utilities to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the 19-day convention. At present, the state, including its capital city, is witnessing daily power cuts of three hours and above on account of acute shortage in generation.