International biodiversity protection

There are international agreements on the preservation and sustainable exploitation of biodiversity, and on the fair distribution of the costs and benefits of biodiversity.

Biodiversity goals

The goals of European and international policy on biodiversity are:

  • to bring loss of biodiversity to a halt by 2020;
  • to consolidate the Natura 2000 network;
  • to compensate for biodiversity loss by applying the No Net Loss principle.

International biodiversity agreements

The main international agreement on biodiversity is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Others include:

Fair use of plants and animals

Plants and animals are genetic resources for farming and the production of medicines and cosmetics. Research into genetic resources adds to our fundamental scientific understanding, but can also generate income.

The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement on how the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources should be shared with the country where the genetic material is found. For instance, when a plant provides the basis for a new and successful medicine.