Norway has ratified the Nagoya Protocol

Norway has ratified the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing to genetic resources. Norway deposited the instrument of ratification at the UN Treaty Event. Norway is the first developed country to ratify the Protocol.

Genetic resources are of high economic value. The Nagoya Protocol is an international legally binding agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way.

- I am glad that Norway takes the lead amongst the developed countries in questions regarding the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources. We already have national legislation, namely the Nature Diversity Act in force, which contains a chapter on access to genetic material, says Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås Minister of International Development

The Ministry of the Environment is in the process of developing regulations on access and utilization of Norwegian genetic material in cooperation with the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, and on traditional knowledge associated with genetic material.

The Protocol is important to achieve the third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The ratification contributes to Aichi target 16: ”By 2015, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization is in force and operational, consistent with national legislation”.

- By ratifying the agreement we make it clear that Norway takes our common environmental challenges and commitments seriously, says Minister of the Environment Bård Vegard Solhjell. Norway signed the Protocol in May 2013 and the Parliament gave its consent to ratification unanimously in June 2013. The Protocol enters into force when 50 states have ratified it.

For more information, see

Landmark treaty on genetic resources reaches halfway mark to entry into force