The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization (abbreviated as the Nagoya Protocol on ABS) was adopted at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan in 2010, with 93 participating countries, including Vietnam. Vietnam officially joined the Protocol on April 23, 2014. The Nagoya Protocol took effect on October 12, 2014. The Government assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to be the national focal point for this Protocol.

The Protocol was established with the goal of fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity components. The Nagoya Protocol on ABS for the first time officially regulates a number of basic issues to ensure access to genetic resources and benefit sharing are implemented such as: definitions of objectives, terminology, scope and relationship with other international instruments, principles and main requirements on fair and equitable benefit sharing when accessing genetic resources, traditional knowledge, mechanisms for implementation including multilateral benefit sharing mechanisms and mechanisms for information exchange on ABS, measures to promote awareness raising, capacity building and technology transfer activities on ABS. These are considered as major achievements in the development of international law and policy on ABS.

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