*EPF405 01/27/00
Maldonado Says Biosafety Protocol Can Be Reached in Montreal
(Cites progress on core issues facing negotiators) (750)
By Jim Fuller
Washington File Science Correspondent

Montreal -- The president of a biosafety meeting being held in Montreal says negotiators have made significant progress on core issues that need to be resolved to finalize a protocol on reducing potential risks resulting from the transboundary movement of living modified organisms (LMOs).

Colombian Environment Minister Juan Mayr Maldonado told reporters January 24 that he is very optimistic that an agreement on a Biosafety Protocol will be reached by the end of the formal talks, which began on January 24 and are scheduled to end on January 28. Four days of informal negotiations preceded the formal meeting.

The protocol is being negotiated under the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity that was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Upon entry into force, the protocol would regulate the transboundary movement of products modified by genetic engineering.

"I am very, very optimistic at this time after seeing all the different advances during the informal talks," Maldonado said. "I feel at this moment that at the end of our journey next Friday (January 28) we will have a protocol."

Maldonado emphasized that he was especially pleased that good progress had been made on finding a solution to the issue of commodities and defining the scope of the protocol.

He said it was very helpful that a general agreement was reached at informal consultations held in Vienna last September on the need to find a way to include commodities within the protocol, possibly through some kind of differentiated procedure. He said negotiators in Montreal continue to make good progress on what kind of commodities must be included or excluded, and the mechanism that would be used for including or excluding them.

Regarding issues related to the scope of the protocol, Maldonado said that negotiators "may be able to find a compromise that reflects the interests and concerns from all sides."

The resumed talks in Montreal follow the suspension of the First Session of the Extraordinary Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity last February in Cartagena, Colombia. Two rounds of informal consultations were held prior to the current talks, the first in Montreal in July and the second in Vienna in September.

Officials in Cartagena were unable to finalize the text of a protocol due to a number of outstanding differences, including disagreement over the proposed scope of the treaty's regulatory powers.

One group of negotiators, which includes the United States and other major agricultural exporters, wants to restrict the protocol to LMOs intended for introduction into the environment, such as seeds for planting. Another group of negotiators, which includes many developing countries, argues for a broader definition that would include LMOs that are agricultural commodities, such as corn or soybeans.

LMOs include various food crops that have been genetically modified for greater productivity or nutritional value, or for resistance to pests or diseases.

"There is no doubt that biotechnology can have many benefits for humanity," Maldonado told more than 130 delegates attending opening session of the formal talks in Montreal. "At the same time we need to make sure that we take the necessary precautions to make sure that genetically modified organisms will not have adverse effects on biodiversity and people."

Maldonado said a good sign that the political will existed to conclude an agreement by the end of the week was the fact the environmental ministers from more than 40 countries had confirmed that they will attend the last two days of the meeting, which have been set aside for ministerial talks.

Maldonado also emphasized the importance of the task and the consequences of a failure to reach an agreement. "Being the first protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity, failure to achieve our mandate would seriously undermine the convention process itself," he said. "Moreover, being the first multilateral environmental treaty to enter the new millennium, failure...would undermine the cause of the environment and sustainable development as a whole."

Maldonado added that "the whole world is watching," and that no delegation would want to go down in history as having been the reason why the process failed. "For may part, rest assured...that I do not intend to leave Montreal without having adopted the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety."

(The Washington File is the product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State)
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