Bulgaria's Council of Ministers approved Wednesday the country's accession to the Nagoya Protocol, a legal instrument to enforce access and benefit-sharing measures under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The application of the international treaty safeguards the preservation of interests of both providers and users of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, including the preservation of interests of indigenous and local communities .

The protocol envisages that access to genetic resources is paid-for and is subject to the prior informed consent (PIC) of the provider, taking into account the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components.

Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entering into force in December 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity lists three main objectives- the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of benefit arising from the utilization of genetic resources.

The Nagoya Protocol on ABS was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan and is to enter into force 90 days after the fiftieth instrument of ratification.

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