Colombia, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden became the first countries to sign a new treaty that opened for signature at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday that provides international rules and procedures for liability and redress in the event of damage to biodiversity caused by living modified organisms.

The Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress was adopted by the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety on Oct. 15, 2010, in Nagoya, Japan, after several years of negotiations. It is a supplementary protocol to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

"We are hoping that the protocol will be ratified and go into force as soon as practicable," Charles Gbedemah, the senior program officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biodiversity, told a news conference soon after the protocol opened for signature.

The Supplementary Protocol takes its name from the Japanese city of Nagoya and from the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur in recognition of their roles as hosts of several significant meetings pertaining to the negotiations on liability and redress.

It will enter into force 90 days after the deposit of the 40th instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession.