Through the looking glass in Vienna: the biosafety protocol

摘要

International delegates took another step along the difficult path toward an agreement on a Biosafety Protocol in Vienna. Such a protocol would be the first binding legal agreement to come from the comprehensive Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Aside from the reaffirmation of the political will for all negotiating groups to continue the process, five days of discussion in the Austrian capital offered up scant evidence of progress. The September talks were an attempt to jump start negotiations in an informal context following the breakdown of formal negotiations in Cartegena Colombia, last February (see DIVERSITY, vol.15, no.1, pp.21-23). The failure to meet the February deadline for the conclusion of a protocol cast doubt on whether it was in fact ever going to be achievable, but the Vienna talks seemed to revive some cautious optimism and formal negotiations are scheduled to resume in Montreal, Canada, this January.