On 22-23 May 2018, the National Park “Narochansky” hosted a solemn workshop “25th Anniversary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Protocols to the Convention as Instruments to Implement its Goals” within the framework of the UNDP-GEF International Technical Assistance Project “Strengthening of human resources, legal frameworks and institutional capacities to implement the Nagoya Protocol in the Republic of Belarus” of March 30, 2018 No. 2/18/000874 dedicated to the International Day of Biological Diversity.
The workshop was attended by representatives of the Institute of Genetics and Cytology, NAS of Belarus ‒ the project executing agency, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus, the Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources, NAS of Belarus, the Scientific and Practical Centre for Arable Farming, the Institute of Experimental Botany named after V.F. Kuprevich, Biological Faculty of the Belarusian State University, project experts from the Center for Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature Research, NAS of Belarus, the print media and the Internet media. Welcome addresses to the jubilee date were sent by the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and A.N. Korbut, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus.
The worshop participants discussed the success of Belarus in the implementation of the Convention and the achievement of its goals, the effectiveness of the current biosafety system, the current state and prospects for the development of genomics in Belarus, the problems of animal and plant invasions, the use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, international approaches to the assessment of ecosystem services (IPBES/UN). A separate part of the workshop was devoted to the Nagoya Protocol as a universal international mechanism regulating the relationship between the countries acting as providers and users of genetic resources, as well as the implementation of a global project to support countries in the development of legal and administrative mechanisms for access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.
