Summary

The Convention on Biological Diversity resulting from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in June, 1992 is the first international legal instrument to provide a comprehensive global basis for the various international efforts to conserve nature. Agreements developed in the past were either regional or limited by the scope of application. The Convention requires parties to conserve and, at the same time, sustainably use the biological diversity of the earth — understood as the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems.