Companies making commercial use of data from genetic resources are expected to contribute a portion of their revenue to a new fund.
Private sector companies such as pharmaceuticals; those dealing in food and health supplements; cosmetics; animal and plant breeding and biotechnology are supposed to contribute a portion of their revenue to Cali Fund.
Others are those dealing with laboratory equipment associated with the sequencing and use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources.
“I commend the CBD [Convention on Biological Diversity] Secretariat for the hard work that went into preparing the Cali Fund launch a mere four months after the adoption of the decision operationalising it,” COP 16 president Susana Muhamad said.
“Colombians are proud that this major achievement under the CBD saw the light of day at La COP de la gente in Cali.”
Unep deputy executive director Elizabeth Mrema said, “Today’s launch is the culmination of multilateralism that delivers.”
“The ball is now in the court of businesses around the world. Those who pay into the fund will go down in history as pioneers and will reap the benefits as the public increasingly recognises the importance of giving back to nature.”
Cali Fund was launched on February 25 in Rome in the margins of the resumed session of COP 16 of the CBD at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The Cali Fund will mobilise new streams of funding for biodiversity action worldwide. It will support three objectives of the CBD – the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, CBD is dedicated to promoting sustainable development.
