Saturday 30 October 2010

The 'Nagoya Protocol'

Perhaps a bit of good news for the natural world. 190 members of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) reached agreement on the adoption of a protocol which basically aims at placing a monetary value on ecosystems . In essence this should mean that if big business develops a drug or other commercial product from, for example, a rainforest, than that big business should share the profits with the communities that own that rainforest. By turning ecosystems into 'equity share units' it should mean that everyone on the planet who benefits from these ecosystems, contribute towards maintaining and preserving them.

Good to see the ideas of 'madmen and mavericks' from 20 years ago being implemented into global policies today.

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