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FIRST MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: 28 NOVEMBER - 9 DECEMBER

1994 The first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity met in Nassau, the Bahamas, from 28 November - 9 December 1994. The Convention entered into force on 29 December 1993 and currently has 106 Parties. During the course of the meeting, delegates were able to reach agreement on the basic machinery for the Convention’s implementation. Notwithstanding some of the problems and setbacks that are inherent in any multilateral negotiations, delegates demonstrated the political will to move forward with the implementation phase. Some of the key decisions taken by the COP include: adoption of the medium-term work programme; designation of the Permanent Secretariat; establishment of the clearing-house mechanism and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA); and designation of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as the interim institutional structure for the financial mechanism.