Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009
* In chronological order of their ratification, the following countries were the first 36 to ratify the biological diversity treaty by mid-December of 1993: Mauritius, Seychelles, Marshall Islands, Maldives, Monaco, Canada, China, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Ecuador, Fiji, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Guinea, Armenia, Japan, Zambia, Peru, Australia, Norway, Tunisia, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Burkina Faso, Belarus, Uganda, New Zealand, Mongolia, Philippines, Uruguay, Nauru, Nepal, Czech Republic, and Barbados.