COP15: New targets to save biodiversity

Just weeks after the climate COP27, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) gathers representatives from most governments to discuss the Post-2020 Global Diversity Framework at COP15/MOP10. The aim of the meeting is to reach an agreement on targets for biodiversity preservation.

Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment, Espen Barth Eide believes that «"conserving the remaining biological diversity is just actually as important as reducing greenhouse gas emissions» " (NRK radio 06.12.22). The targets set in 2010 in Nagoya have sadly not been met. Barth Eide emphasizes the importance of having action plans and concrete mechanisms to see how the various countries deliver against the targets.

The CBD’s overall objective is to “encourage actions, which will lead to a sustainable future”. This includes conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of the components of biological diversity, as well as fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

Research Professor in NORCE, Sarah Agapito, has worked on issues related to the Convention and its supplementary protocol, The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, for more than a decade. She has served in several expert committees and also contributed to the Secretariat’s technical series on both synthetic biology and detection and identification. Agapito will travel to Montreal for the meeting:

- This year the focus will be on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and how it should be implemented. With regards to biosafety, it is important to look at synthetic biology as an emerging issue to trigger further actions. I also expect digital sequence information to be an important issue, she says.

The Action Agenda
Agapito explains that the Gene Technology, Environment and Society (GEMS) research group in NORCE has contributed to the Convention and the Cartagena Protocol with scientific and technical advice, through participating in expert fora, and also capacity building activities:

- The ‘FoodPrint Project: traceability and labeling of gene-edited products in the food chain’ has made an official pledge to contribute to the Convention’s new program: the Action Agenda. This is an online platform and tool oriented towards catalyzing non-state actors’ commitments to generate measurable commitments that make an impact. We have participated in the Online Forum on The Action Agenda and Biosafety.

First-hand knowledge
GEMS has over many years been engaged in several technical expert groups dealing with topics related to socio-economic considerations (Portal on Socio-economic considerations). More recently, Sarah Agapito has been engaged in the risk assessment and risk management of genetically modified organisms (Open-ended Online Expert Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management), synthetic biology (Open-ended Online Expert Forum on Synthetic Biology, the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Synthetic Biology) and The Network of Laboratories for the detection and identification of LMOs.

- It is important for our NORCE research to follow the debates closely to get first-hand knowledge of the issues and the technology development, Agapito concludes.