Fiocruz participates in the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference

Between 7 and 19 December, Montreal, Canada, will be hosting the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB), known as the Biodiversity Summit. Researchers Manuela da Silva, Márcia Chame, Marcelo Pelajo and Guilherme Franco Netto will be part of the Brazilian delegation, representing Fiocruz. Marcia Chame is coordinator of the Institutional Platform for Biodiversity and Wildlife Health; Manuela da Silva and Marcelo Pelajo are advisors to the Vice-Presidency of Research and Biological Collections (VPPCB); and Guilherme Franco Netto is coordinator of the Health, Environment and Sustainability Program of the Vice-Presidency of Environment, Healthcare and Health Promotion (VPAAPS).

The researchers contributed with subsidies that will work as a foundation to draw up a general document of the Brazilian government to the COP15 on themes such as digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources; the Nagoya Protocol; and biodiversity and climate change. During the COP15 the researchers will also be able to collaborate with the debate on the international decisions involving the use of natural resources for research purposes and for technological development, as well as developments in the field of health.

The COP15 will be taking place not long after the COP27, the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, which was held in Egypt this November. Both agendas are intertwined and an agreement in defense of nature is expected from both - scientists and researchers have been warning about the loss of nature at unprecedented speed for a quite a while, resulting in huge impacts on human well-being and the risk of extinction for many species.

The Convention on Biological Diversity has been in force since 1993, when it was agreed upon by 156 government leaders during Rio+20. Its main goals are to preserve biological diversity, the sustainable use of components of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits originating from the use of genetic resources.

The first Conference of the Parties took place in the Bahamas, in 1994. Since then, its ordinary meetings have followed the deliberative format, and are held every two years.

Fiocruz has participated in the global agenda for the conservation of biodiversity since 1992, and has been a driving force to bring together the biodiversity and the health agendas. The institution has been standing out for its performance together at the CDB in the theme of interconnections between biodiversity and health. COP12, for instance, acknowledged Fiocruz’s contribution in the development of actions that can combine environmental conservation strategies and promotion of the population’s well-being.

The health-environment axis was also reinforced during Fiocruz’s 9th Internal Congress, the institution’s maximum representation instance. The Foundation acknowledges the interconnections between the health of humans, animals and the ecosystem and the planet-environment, biodiversity and climate.