By Kingsley Adegboye

International Treaty on Biosafety last week marked its 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the international agreement governing the movement of living modified organisms, LMOs across national borders.

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety entered into force on 11 September 2003 ninety days after 50 countries agreed to be bound by it, is as a supplementary treaty to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims to ensure the safe handling, transfer and use of LMOs resulting from modern biotechnology commonly known as genetically modified organisms, GMOs that may have adverse effects on biological diversity.

Modern biotechnology has potential to improve human well-being through enhancing
agricultural productivity, but there is concern about potential risks that LMOs may pose to biological diversity and human health. The Cartagena Protocol is the global community’s response to this concern.

The protocol also provides a framework that can enable the world derive maximum benefit from modern biotechnology without compromising the environment and human health.

According to a statement from Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD Secretariat, over the past 10 years, a lot of progress has been made towards the implementation of the Protocol. “Today, over 100 countries have developed national legal frameworks and administrative systems tailored to handle applications and facilitate decision-making regarding the export and import of LMOs. These systems require risk assessments to be conducted to inform any decisions on the imports of LMOs. Contracting parties to the Cartagena Protocol have also developed systems to ensure that LMOs are handled, packaged and transported across borders under safe conditions.