The Convention on Biological Diversity at UN Earth Summit

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was opened for signatures on 5 June 1992 at the United Nations Conference (UNCED) on Environment and Development (the Rio “Earth Summit”) and entered into force on 29 December 1993 as a legally binding global treaty which Australia signed. The CBD is said to be “inspired by the world community’s growing commitment to sustainable development.” the result of UNEP ad hoc intergovernmental workshops starting in 1988, including a sub-workshop on biotechnology as “a valuable contribution to resource conservation and sustainable development.” At it’s core, the Biodiversity Convention’s “true mission was capturing and using biodiversity for the sake of the biotechnology industry,” and “protecting the pharmaceutical and emerging biotechnology industries”. [1, 2] “[T]he convention implicitly equates the diversity of life – animals and plants – to the diversity of genetic codes, for which read genetic resources. By doing so, diversity becomes something modern science can manipulate.” [3, 4] This convention treaty sets up the justification for classifying, mapping and cataloguing nature down to it’s genetic code using emerging technologies from that time. Starting with the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI), justified as “taxonomy is essential to implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity,” 1986 - US..> READ MORE

UNCED Earth Summit – Agenda 21

In 1987 the Trilateral Commission’s member Gro Harlem Brundtland presnted to the World Assembly the World Commission on Environment and Development task force's report called Our Common Future. This report defined and popularized the term Sustainable Development for world consumption. [1] From June 3-14, 1992 the United Nations Committee for Environment and Development (UNCED) 'Earth Summit' was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  It was organised by co-author, Maurice Strong, who is also the UNEP secretary general. [2, 3, 4] The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed which "established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere" [8] Also at this conference “The Agenda for the 21st Century” (Agenda 21) was born. Brundtland's report received praise and accolades from the UN for providing the framework for a sustainable future. [5, 6, 7] Officially "Agenda 21 is the framework for activity into the 21st century addressing the combined issues of environment protections and fair and equitable development for all." According to extensive research by Patrick Wood, “Agenda 21 is a … comprehensive blueprint specifically designed to change our way of life and..> READ MORE