EARTH NEGOTIATIONS BULLETIN PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD) WRITTEN AND EDITED BY: JOHANNAH BERNSTEIN ANILLA CHERIAN LANGSTON JAMES GOREE VI "KIMO" STEVE WISE . A DAILY SUMMARY OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 29 November 1994 BIOCOP-I HIGHLIGHTS MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 1994 OPENING CEREMONY The first Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity opened to the sounds of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band, a color guard and speeches by UNEP Executive Director Elizabeth Dowdeswell, UN General Assembly Vice-President Mario Lopez de Rosa on behalf of General Assembly President S.E.M. Amara Essy, and UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and the Bahamanian Prime Minister, the Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham. Dowdeswell referred to the Biodiversity Convention as the "epitome of humankind's new vision of its relationship with nature." She said it is the most comprehensive and ambitious agreement yet adopted, including both a political breakthrough and a conceptual advance in attempts to stop and reverse the destruction of biological resources. The change, Dowdeswell said, was to go beyond species or ecosystem preservation to addressing biodiversity as a multisectoral issue that relates to social and economic progress and the pursuit of sustainable development. Dowdeswell said the record time for entry into force of the Convention, the growing number of ratifications, attendance at the COP and political interest in the issue were encouraging indicators of governments' commitment to implementation. Lopez said that the Convention is striking in its goal to preserve life on Earth, in the actors who support it, and in the financial, scientific, technical and technological means envisioned for its implementation. He said that implementing the Convention's commitments would be a delicate process, leading to a new and difficult stage in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Between performances by the Bahamas National Youth Choir, Lopez read Boutros-Ghali's statement, which called for a practical foundation for action on the commitments in the Convention. He said the Convention should coordinate with the Commission on Sustainable Development at its next session. Prime Minister Ingraham said the Convention represents a new perspective on development assistance, because some of the poorest countries are the richest in species. Development assistance, in this way, becomes a long-term investment with the resulting new partnership respecting the "transcending sovereignty of nature." Ingraham also cited Principle 6 of the Rio Declaration that calls for consideration of the needs of the most environmentally vulnerable countries, and praised the Convention for providing financial assistance on a grant or concessional basis. The opening ceremonies ended with the official opening of the Biodiversity Technology Fair sponsored by the Canadian government and the Canadian Industries Association. Dowdeswell said the fair conveyed two messages: that the objectives of the Convention require involvement from industry; and that technologies and expertise from indigenous peoples are an important element of technological contributions to biodiversity protection. PLENARY AGENDA ITEM 2 - ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS The Plenary opened with the appointment of the Chair, Sen. Dr. Ivy L. Dumont, the Bahamas Minister of Health and Environment. Dumont noted the difficulties of the Convention's mandate and that the ICCBD had delivered clear recommendations from whose wisdom the COP could draw. The Bureau nominees, which were transmitted from Sunday's informal sessions, were appoved. They include: Cameroon and Mauritius (Africa); the Czech Republic and Estonia (Eastern Europe); Peru (GRULAC); Canada and Denmark (WEOG); and Malaysia and another country to be named (Asia). Colombia noted that it had been inadventently ommitted from the list of countries that have ratified the Convention. Myanmar said it had also deposited its instrument of ratification. The Executive Secretary said that the Secretariat had not yet received official notification of Colombia's ratification but that Myanmar had been included on the latest list. Later in the Plenary session, the Executive Secretary announced that notice of Colombia's ratification had been received and that it would be added to an updated list of ratifications. With regard to the adoption of the agenda, Brazil requested that biosafety, access to genetic resources and indigenous knowledge be included in the provisional agenda. Spain called for discussions on the location of the secretariat. Switzerland supported Spain's request, but noted that at ICCBD-2 the European Union had recommended that discussion of the secretariat location be deferred until the second COP. Germany, on behalf of the EU, supported Brazil's request to discuss biosafety and Spain's proposal to discuss the secretariat. The Chair agreed to add the location issue to the agenda. The provisional agenda was adopted, as orally amended. The Secretariat announced that the speakers list for the Ministerial segment will be closed on 1 December at 1 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 3 - ADOPTION OF THE RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES: The Chair reported on Sunday's informal consultations. On Rule 21 (Bureau), a president, eight vice-presidents, and a rapporteur are to be elected from parties present at each meeting to serve as the Bureau until the next ordinary meeting. The selection will be made with regard to equitable geographic representation and with adequate representation of SIDS. The informal consultations also agreed to bracket Rule 4, paragraph 1 (Date of Meetings) and Rule 40 (Voting). Despite Japan's objections to Rule 52 (Working Languages), the Committee adopted the draft rules with the oral amendment to Rule 21 and the brackets around Rules 4 and 40. AGENDA ITEM 4: REPORT OF THE ICCBD: Amb. Vincente Sanchez (ICCBD Chair) said the Convention's swift entry into force focused the ICCBD's deliberations on issues for the first COP including: periodicity of meetings; financial issues; selection of a competent organization to host the secretariat; a clearing-house mechanism; policy, strategy and eligibility for financial resources; institutional structures for a financial mechanism, and the list of developed country parties and others assuming developed country obligations. The ICCBD considered the subsidiary scientific body, and requested that the COP make a contribution to the CSD session. When the Plenary resumed in the afternoon, the Chair, Dr. Dumont, announced that the Bureau had agreed to elect Mr. V. Koester (Denmark) as Chair of the Committee of the Whole. The Bureau further agreed to postpone election of the rapporteur and decided that agenda item 9 (medium-term programme of work) would be examined by the Committee of the Whole on Tuesday. Delegates adopted the organization of work as outlined in document UNEP /CBD/COP/1/1/Add.2. The Chair also announced that the Bureau will meet every morning from 9-10 am and that the next Plenary session will be announced in the Journal. The Plenary was suspended and followed immediately by the Committee of the Whole. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE The newly-appointed Chair reminded delegates of the exhaustive list of agenda items and called on them to make interventions relevant to the texts submitted before the COP. He urged for speed and efficiency, to provide for more flexibility next week. AGENDA ITEM 6.1 - POLICY, STRATEGY, PROGRAMME PRIORITIES AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA REGARDING ACCESS TO AND UTILIZATION OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES: The Executive-Secretary, Angela Cropper, introduced document UNEP/CBD/COP/1/5 on this topic. Germany, on behalf of the EU, proposed three distinct levels upon which guidelines for the financial mechanism should be developed. Algeria, on behalf of the G-77, questioned the appropriateness of bringing to the COP new interpretations of the substantive provisions of the Convention. He expressed hope that the agreement reflected in Annex III could be elaborated upon by the COP. He added that the question of poverty and the issues of technology transfer and funding must be concretely addressed. China said that developed countries have a responsibility to assist in the mobilization of financial resources to help finance the incremental costs. He added that the GEF should clarify the proportion of financial assistance to be allocated for the Biodiversity Convention. Colombia urged that since all developing countries are eligible for funding, there is no need for a specific list of countries. Finland emphasized the need for biodiversity to be protected in all areas of the world, regardless of whether they are rich or poor in biodiversity resources. Brazil urged delegates to focus only on the bracketed text. Malaysia requested further clarification of the EU proposal and called for the discussion on programme priorities to build on the agreed text in Annex III. Kenya said that any policy framework would be meaningless without any reference to the social dimensions, especially the alleviation of poverty. Sweden urged against the global list idea. He added that discussion on the draft indicative list of incremental costs in Annex IV should be postponed until the significance of these costs has been fully clarified. Cameroon, on behalf of the African Group, noted that any institutional structure will have to be accountable to the COP. The UK noted the important distinction of the role of the COP to provide both policy and operational guidelines for the financial mechanism. Norway supported Sweden and said that it was possible to improve on the preciseness of the guidance to financial mechanism. India urged that the text agreed in Nairobi be used as the basis of discussions. IN THE CORRIDORS Informal consultations were held on Sunday to address several unresolved issues. Resisting sea, sun, solicitors and hair plaiters, delegates focused their attention on the size and composition of the Bureau. Rule 21 of the Draft Rules of Procedure deals with the size of the Bureau. At the second ICCBD session in Nairobi, Antigua and Barbuda, supported by other SIDS, suggested that the size of the Bureau be enlarged. While no agreement was reached on this in Nairobi, debate continued well into late Sunday evening on enlarging the Bureau from 5 to 10 members (2 members from each of the regions). Once agreement was reached on having a 10 member Bureau, regional group met to nominate members so that the Bureau could meet as soon as possible on Monday to begin its work. THINGS TO LOOK FOR TODAY WORKSHOPS Western Canada Wilderness Committee: Biodiversity Destruction in Canada's Temperate Rainforests-A slideshow presentation from 8:30-9:45 am at the Eleuthra Room, Crystal Palace Hotel. UNEP: National Biodiversity Studies: Strategies and Action Plans from 1.00 - 2:45 pm at the Eleuthra Room, Crystal Palace Hotel. Ramsar: Opportunities for Co-operation between the Ramsar Convention and the COP from 6:00-8:00 pm. at the Eleuthra Room, Crystal Palace Hotel. The Nature Conservancy: NGO Access to GEF Projects at 3: 00 pm. in the Cat Island Rooms A & B, Crystal Palace Hotel. NGO Meeting: Implementation and Enforcement of the COP at 10 a.m in the Cat Island (Lobby Level), Tower M, Crystal Palace Hotel. OFFICIAL SESSIONS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE: The Committee of the Whole will meet at 10:00 am to hear a presentation by Mr. Mohamed El-Ashry, Chairman of the GEF, which will be followed by a question and answer period. The Committee will continue consideration of Agenda Item 6. This issue of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (C) is written and edited by Johannah Bernstein, Anilla Cherian , Langston James Goree VI =93Kimo=94 and Steve Wise . General support for the work of the Bulletin has been provided by the International Institute for Sustainable Development , the Government of Denmark and the World Bank. Specific funding for coverage of the CBD has been provided by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management, UNEP and WWF. The authors can be contacted at their electronic mail addresses and during this meeting by phone at +1 809 327 6000 room 193 and by fax at +1 809 327 6987. IISD can be contacted by phone at +1-204-958-7700, by fax at +1-204-958-7710. The opinions expressed in Earth Negotiations Bulletin are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD and other funders. 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