United Nations A/RES/57/260 General Assembly Distr.: General 30 January 2003 Fifty-seventh session Agenda item 87 (e) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [on the report of the Second Committee (A/57/532/Add.5)] 57/260. Convention on Biological Diversity The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 55/201 of 20 December 2000 and 56/197 of 21 December 2001 on the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1 Reaffirming that the Convention on Biological Diversity is the key international instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, Underlining the importance of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, their development and wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices, their protection subject to national legislation, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of their commercial use, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Taking into account the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development 2 and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg Plan of Implementation”), 3 Noting with interest the partnership initiatives voluntarily undertaken by some Governments, international organizations and major groups and announced at the Summit, Expressing its deep appreciation to the Government of the Netherlands for hosting the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, held at The Hague from 7 to 26 April 2002, _______________ 1 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1760, No. 30619. Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August–4 September 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap. I, resolution 1, annex. 3 Ibid., resolution 2, annex. 2 02 55648