Convention on Biological Diversity

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Convention on Biological Diversity, a subsidiary body of the United Nations, adopted the Convention on Biological Diversity on May 22, 1992. It came into force on December 29, 1993. The Convention is one of the three conventions discussed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit) in June 1992. It works in close connection with the other two Rio Conventions: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The Convention on Biological Diversity currently has 168 signatories and 196 Parties to the Convention. (Signatories are qualified to ratify, accept or approve a treaty. In UN documents, a ‘Party’ to a treaty is a country that has ratified or acceded to that particular treaty, and is therefore legally bound by the provisions in the instrument.)  India signed the Convention on June 5, 1992 and ratified it on February 18, 1994. (Ratification is an 'international act' whereby a State indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty.) As per the requirements of the Convention, India prepared its first “national biodiversity action plan” in 1999...