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Convention on Biological Diversity: an international treaty created at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to conserve diversity, sustain biological use, and make sure benefits are shared equally.

Biodiversity: the different kids of objects and living things in nature.

Biopiracy: the unauthorised use of biological resources like plants, animals, microorganisms and genes and of traditional knowledge.

Informed consent: in the case of bioprospecting, this means the source country must know what the resource will be used for and what will be shared.

Convention on Biological Diversity quick facts

Signed: June 11, 1992
Ratified: December 4, 1992

• One hundred and eighty-eight parties signed the Convention on Biological Diversity, the crowning achievement of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
• The prime goal of Convention was to preserve the biodiversity of Earth's ecosystems.
• The Convention spawned the Biodiversity Convention Office and development of the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy, an extensive guide released in 1995.
• The Convention dictates certain ideals in creating benefits sharing agreements between researchers, government and indigenous people.
• The Convention provides for the transfer of technologies as a means to implement the sharing of benefits in using genetic resources in a fair and equitable manner.
• There is a contradiction between the Convention and the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which says intellectual properties are not commonly owned.
• According to the Canadian Biodiversity Information Network, run by the Canadian government, this contradiction remains unresolved.
• In Canada, the knowledge of our First Nations peoples is in danger of being patented and produced by foreign pharmaceutical companies.
• Canada has consulted with the First Nations when researching traditional remedies, but the United States, who signed but did not ratify the Convention, does not recognize the rights of First Nations to their traditional knowledge.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the only legally binding international agreement that recognizes the significance and value of traditional knowledge.

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