CARTAGENA PROTOCOL: What it is, Objective and Signatory Countries

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At the end of the 20th century, numerous representatives of the scientific, economic and political community from different countries around the world met to discuss a new industry that was revolutionizing both science and commerce. It was about the biotech industry. One of the world's most important and rapidly growing industries, for which it was essential that there be a regulatory protocol that would guarantee the protection needs of both the environment and international trade. With these objectives, the so-called Protocol on Biotechnology Safety, or Cartagena Protocol, was adopted, becoming a decisive and essential step towards the international security of each and every one of the different actions that the biotechnology industry.

If you want to know what the Cartagena Protocol consists of, continue reading this interesting article by Ecologist Verde on the Cartagena Protocol: what is it, objective and signatory countries.

What is the Cartagena Protocol

The principles of Cartagena Protocol focus on the Biotechnology Safety applied in the different Conventions on Biological Diversity that, at the international level, manage movements from one country to another of different species of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs).

This Biosafety Protocol was originally drawn up in 1999, in the Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias (thus known as the Cartagena Protocol), although it was not adopted and finalized until a year later, in the Canadian city of Montreal; recognizing itself as a complementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Finally, this protocol entered into force on September 11, 2003.

With the ultimate aim of creating an environment suitable for the application of the most innovative and environmentally sustainable technologies, the Cartagena Protocol allows international biotechnology to obtain maximum benefit from its research, while reducing the The risks that said biotechnological activity can cause both the environment and human health to a minimum. In this other Green Ecologist article you can discover more about what biotechnology is and what it is for.

Let us see in the next sections what are the specific objectives established by the interesting Cartagena Protocol, as well as the different countries that signed it.

Objectives of the Cartagena Protocol

The principles of the Cartagena Protocol focus on the modern biosafety transboundary, used in different living modified organisms. It is vital to guarantee said security since biotechnology applied to Biological Diversity can have different adverse effects in terms of the conservation and sustainable use of said biodiversity. In this context, 40 articles and 3 annexes collect each and every one of the objectives set in Montreal, among them, objectives focused on biotechnological security of:

• Pharmaceutical products.
• Procedures for the use of living modified organisms intended for direct use as human or animal food.
• Risk assessments and management to avoid the possible adverse effects that living modified organisms may suffer in their conservation and sustainable use as biological diversity.
• Handling, transportation, packaging and identification by the Biosafety Information Exchange Center.
• Capacity building, awareness and public participation focused on safety in the transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms, taking into account their sustainable conservation and use, as well as possible risks to human health.
• Socio-economic considerations, mechanisms and financial resources, responsibility and compensation related to the different international norms and procedures resulting from the transboundary movements of living modified organisms.

Signatory countries of the Cartagena Protocol

There are 170 countries that signed the Cartagena Protocol. Each and every one of them presented their approval and participation in this important and essential international protocol aimed at guaranteeing the safety of biotechnological processes related to biological diversity.

Grouped according to the continent and / or geographical region to which they belong, some of these 170 countries that signed the Cartagena Protocol are:

• Africa: Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia. Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Senegal.
• South and Central America: Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela.
• Asia and the Pacific: Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.
• Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey.

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• Cartagena Protocol. Access information on Multilateral Environmental Agreements-UN.
• Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2000). Cartagena Protocol on biosafety. World Trade Center, Montreal (Canada).
• Martín, I. J. (11/29/2018) Agreement is finalized at the biodiversity COP, with criticism for lack of compliance. EFE Agency: Green- Biodiversity.
• Drafting EFE: Green (12/20/2016) COP13, 72 agreements to protect biodiversity. EFE Agency: Green- Biodiversity.
• Drafting EFE: Verde (11/18/2018) COP14 on biodiversity seeks to comply with the motto "invest in biodiversity for people and the planet." EFE Agency: Green- Biodiversity.