Some 6,000 representatives from more than 190 countries will begin discussions on alternatives for the protection and conservation of the planet’s biodiversity today in Curitiba, in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná.

Sponsored by the UN and the Brazilian government, the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention (COP 8) will be officially opened this morning by Minister of Environment, Marina Silva.

During the next 12 days the participants will discuss how to protect traditional knowledge of the use of natural resources, and equitable access to the benefits of biodiversity use and genetic resources.

Also on the agenda: biopiracy, protection of fauna and flora, sustainable development strategies, the eradication of poverty and an updated situation report on the environment in general.

COP meetings take place every two years. The last one was in Kuala Lumpur in 2004. Approval of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity dates from the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Conference on the Environment and Development.

It is expected that over 120 ministers of Environment will attend the conference.

ABr