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DRAFT FINANCIAL RULES FOR THE SECRETARIAT OF THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Initial discussion of Agenda Item 4.1.2 (initially 4.1.3), Draft financial rules for the funding of the Secretariat, took place in the Working Group, however, most of the substantive negotiations took place later in a smaller Contact Group. This Group, chaired by Mr. Uppenbrink (Germany), included Australia, Brazil, Sweden, the Bahamas, India and Zimbabwe.

The draft rules relate to Article 23 (3) of the Convention, which requires the COP to agree, by consensus, on the financial rules governing the funding of the Secretariat. The same article states that the COP shall also periodically decide on and adopt a budget. The background document prepared by the Secretariat (UNEP/CBD/IC/2/5) outlines current practices in selected conventions. It considers the advantages and disadvantages of voluntary contributions and a pro-rated scale of assessments. It also outlines alternative scales of assessment for contributions based on precedents set in other Conventions.

The Contact Group developed two documents that were considered and adopted by the Working Group. These documents will be forwarded to the COP with the recommendation that further discussion of this issue should be based on these documents. The first document addresses the financial rules and the second addresses the budget. The documents are: "Draft Financial Rules for the Administration of the Trust Fund for the Convention on Biological Diversity" (UNEP/CBD/IC/2/WG.II/L.1) and "Financial Rules Governing the Funding of the Secretariat of the Convention" (UNEP/CBD/IC/2/WG.II/L.3).