Nagoya Protocol forum to open in Seoul

INCHEON, July 5 (Yonhap) -- The members of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Nagoya Protocol will meet for a forum in Seoul later this week about one month ahead of its implementation to protect biological resources, a state-run research organ here said Tuesday.

"The National Institute of Biological Resources of Korea (NIBR) under the environment ministry will hold the forum titled 'National Implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on ABS: Sharing Lessons and Discussing Challenges' at a Seoul hotel on Wednesday," an NIBR official said. ABS is short for Access and Benefit Sharing.

The purpose of the forum is to share information on each country's current status and practices of ABS implementation and further discuss ideas on how to effectively implement the ABS system required under the Protocol, the official said.

The participants are the seven members of the Protocol -- China, India, South Africa and Myanmar, which are rich in genetic resources, and resource users South Korea, Germany and Japan, the official said.

The Protocol, adopted in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, and entered into force in October 2014, pursues the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources for the subsequent conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

"The forum will provide us with a good opportunity to understand member nations' respective systems and seek ways to cope with them," the official said.

On the sidelines of the forum, the environment ministry will hold bilateral talks with Myanmar to seek cooperation in the bio resources sector, the official added.

Meanwhile, South Korea will become an official COP member on Aug. 17 as it presented its ratification to the U.N. Secretariat in May.

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