Cartagena Protocol: what it is, objective and signatory countries

The principles of the Cartagena Protocol focus on Biotechnology Safety applied in the different Conventions on Biological Diversity that, at the international level, manage movements from one country to another of different species of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs).

This Biosafety Protocol was originally drawn up in 1999, in the Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias (thus known as the Cartagena Protocol), although it was not adopted and finalized until a year later, in the Canadian city of Montreal; recognizing itself as a complementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Finally, this protocol entered into force on September 11, 2003.

With the ultimate goal of creating an environment suitable for the application of the most innovative and environmentally sustainable technologies, the Cartagena Protocol allows international biotechnology to obtain maximum benefit from its research, while reducing it to The risks that such biotechnological activity can cause to both the environment and human health are minimal. In this other AgroCorrn article you can find out more about what biotechnology is and what it is for .

Let us see in the next sections what are the specific objectives established by the interesting Cartagena Protocol, as well as the different countries that signed it.

The principles of the Cartagena Protocol focus on the safety of modern transboundary biotechnology , used in different living modified organisms. It is vital to guarantee said security since biotechnology applied to Biological Diversity can have different adverse effects in terms of the conservation and sustainable use of said biodiversity. In this context, 40 articles and 3 annexes collect each and every one of the objectives set in Montreal, among them, objectives focused on biotechnological security of:

• Pharmaceutical products.
• Procedures for the use of living modified organisms intended for direct use as human or animal food.
• Risk assessments and management to avoid the possible adverse effects that living modified organisms may suffer in their conservation and sustainable use as biological diversity.
• Handling, transportation, packaging and identification by the Biosafety Information Exchange Center.
• Capacity building, awareness and public participation focused on safety in the transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms, taking into account their sustainable conservation and use, as well as possible risks to human health.
• Socio-economic considerations, mechanisms and financial resources, responsibility and compensation related to the different international norms and procedures resulting from the transboundary movements of living modified organisms.

There are 170 countries that signed the Cartagena Protocol. Each and every one of them presented their approval and participation in this important and essential international protocol aimed at guaranteeing the safety of biotechnological processes related to biological diversity.

Grouped according to the continent and / or geographic region to which they belong, some of these 170 countries that signed the Cartagena Protocol are:

• Africa: Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia. Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Senegal.
• South and Central America: Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela.
• Asia and the Pacific: Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.
• Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey.

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