The fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 5) will take place in Nagoya, Japan, from 11 to 15 October 2010. Building upon the achievements of the first four meetings held in February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May/June 2005 in Montreal, Canada, March 2006 in Curitiba, Brazil and May 2008 in Bonn, Germany respectively, COP-MOP 5 is expected to arrive at decisions on a number of issues to further facilitate the implementation of the Protocol. The meeting will address a number of standing issues on the COP-MOP agenda as well as substantive issues arising from the medium-term programme of work arising and previous decisions of the COP-MOP.BACKGROUNDThe Cartagena Protocol on BiosafetyThe Biosafety Protocol is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on biodiversity, also taking into account risks to human health. The Protocol establishes procedures for regulating the import and export of LMOs from one country to another.For more information, please visit: www.cbd.int/biosafety or www.cbd.int/iyb/doc/prints/factsheets/iyb-cbd-factsheet-biosafety-en.pdf