Hungarian EU delegation attends biodiversity talks in Montreal

The agriculture ministry said a Hungarian delegation representing the European Union has travelled to Montreal to attend a conference on creating a multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism from the use of digital sequence information (DSI) in the interest of preserving biodiversity. The mechanism and a related special fund are aimed at mobilising new resources for preserving and financing the sustainability of biodiversity, particularly for the world’s developing regions, the ministry said in a statement. Under the plan, the financial resources generated by the mechanism will be pooled into an international fund and used to support projects aimed at preserving biodiversity, it added. The international working group comprising experts from the signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity are meeting in Montreal from Aug 12 to 16 with the aim of reaching an agreement on how the DSI multilateral mechanism and the international fund will operate. The final decision on the package of proposals emerging from the conference will be made at the UN COP16 summit in October.