A United Nations convention on biodiversity is underway in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province. The event should encourage more countries to include mainstream biological diversity in their development agendas and commit themselves to protecting species and restoring the ecosystem.

The 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, or the CBD COP 12, started Monday and will run through Oct. 17. As many as 20,000 representatives from 194 countries, international organizations and nongovernmental groups are attending the biennial meeting.

The largest international forum on the environment ever held in the country is hoped to help the Korean government and society renew its commitment to conservation of biodiversity and raise public awareness about its value.

In addition to the CBD, Korea is already deeply associated with one of the three U.N. conventions aimed at protecting the environment. It is home to the Green Climate Fund, which is associated with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The third one is the Convention to Combat Desertification.

As CBD Executive Secretary Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias mentioned, South Korea, which has already put forward “green growth” as its key development agenda, has taken the lead in some areas of biodiversity ― like increasing the size of forests 11-fold over the past four decades and restoring endangered species like crested ibis and the Asiatic black bear.

The Pyeongchang conference, whose theme is “Biodiversity for Sustainable Development,” will give halfway evaluations for the 2011-2020 U.N. Decade for Biodiversity, whose objective is promoting conservation and the sustainable use of nature.

A U.N. report said that one species becomes extinct every 15 minutes. This is largely the result of industrialization, urbanization, climate change and the rise of alien species in habitats, which stems from expanded trade and cross-border travel.

We hope that the “Pyeongchang Road Map” which will be adopted at the end of the conference will come up with effective ways to achieve the U.N. goals.

The participants in Pyeongchang will also hold a separate meeting on the “Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing,” an agreement on access to genetic resources and fair sharing of benefits arising from their use.

The protocol, adopted in 2010 in Nagoya and which will take effect on Oct. 12, will have a tremendous impact on countries and various sectors like pharmaceuticals, bioengineering, agribusiness, health care and cosmetics.

Experts say that Korea, which depends on imports for 70 percent of its biological resources, will have to shoulder 500 billion won each year. One of the hardest hit will be the biological sector, which is expected to have to make 63.9 billion won in additional payments.

Korea, along with other major industrialized countries, has yet to ratify the multilateral treaty, but must brace for the day when it cannot avoid being part of it. The government and industries will also have to make more efforts to protect indigenous species.