ENB:09:28
[Next] .
[Previous] .
[Contents]
WORK OF THE CONTACT GROUPS
Three contact groups met during the course of the session to resolve several outstanding issues in the following agenda items. NGOs were allowed to observe all contact groups except for the group that dealt with the Agenda Items 6.5, 6.6, 9 and 10.
AGENDA ITEMS 6.1, 6.2, AND 6.3: The contact group chaired by Antigua and Barbuda, on Agenda Items 6.1 (Policy, strategy, programme priorities and eligibility criteria), 6.2 (Institutional structure to operate the financial mechanism) and 6.3 (List of developed country Parties and other Parties) met twice to discuss the progress made on informal consultations, which the group had mandated the Chair to undertake with representatives from all regional and interest groups. The Chair noted that the draft decisions and three annexes should be viewed as a package, reflecting a balanced attempt to reflect all regional groups and other interests in the debate. The draft decision: agrees that the restructured GEF will continue as the interim institutional structure to operate the financial mechanism; instructs the GEF to support the policy, strategy, programme priorities, and eligibility criteria in Annex I of the decision; authorizes the Interim Secretariat to consult with the GEF on the MOU to be considered at COP-II; lists in Annex III interim guidelines for evaluation of the GEF; and requests that the Interim Secretariat produce a report on the financial mechanism and a study on the availability of financial resources additional to those provided by the restructured GEF for COP II. Annex II, the list of developed country Parties and other parties that assume developed country Parties' obligations, lists no countries in the latter category. Antigua and Barbuda said that the interim guidelines in Annex III provided a means for the interim institutional structure to function until COP-II. He stressed that the draft decision reflected a balance of various views. The group adopted the draft decision and recommended that it be adopted by the Committee of the Whole.
AGENDA ITEMS 6.4, 7, AND 8: The contact group coordinated by Canada completed discussions on Agenda Items 6.4 (Clearing-house mechanism) and 7 (SBSTTA). The group agreed that the Interim Secretariat should prepare a study to assist the COP in the establishment of the clearing-house mechanism. On Agenda Item 8 (Preparation of the participation of the Convention in the third sesssion of the CSD), delegates agreed to refer to the relationship between poverty and biodiversity. They agreed to remove the reference to work on the protection of traditional knowledge and inidigenous communities since the matter would not be taken up by the COP until 1996. Delegates agreed on the importance of conveying to the CSD the new regime established by the Convention. Delegates agreed to the deletion of references to the sovereign rights of States and to national authority to regulate access. On the COP’s contribution to the CSD’s forests discussions, delegates agreed to new wording that refers to the importance of biodiversity in the ecosystem functioning of forests and the role of the COP in emphasizing the importance of conservation, management and sustainable use for achieving the objectives of the Convention. On agenda item 7, the group chose priority items from the draft medium-term work programme as the basis for the agenda for the SBSTTA’s first meeting. The matters for which advice from the SBSTTA is required by the second COP include: the components of biodiversity under threat and the action to be taken; ways and means to promote technology transfer; scientific and technical information to be contained in national reports regarding implementation; contribution of the Convention to the preparation of the 1996 International Technical Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; and conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine biological diversity.
AGENDA ITEMS 6.5, 6.6, 9, AND 10: The contact group coordinated by Mauritania finished work on agenda item 6.5 (Selection of competent international organization). The group also agreed to establish an ad hoc working group to consider the need for and modalities of a biosafety protocol. The group met throughout the weekend to address: the medium-term work programme; the budget; and biosafety. The revised text noted that the work programme will be developed on the basis of standing and rolling issues. Standing issues will include: matters relating to the financial mechanism; report from the Secretariat on the administration of the Convention and budget for the Secretariat; report from, and consideration of recommendations to the SBSTTA; reports by the Parties on implementation of the Convention; report on, assessment and review of the operation of the clearing-house mechanism; relationship of the Convention to the CSD, and biodiversity related conventions, other international agreements, institutions, and processes of relevance to agenda items of the COP. The rotating agenda will be developed in a flexible manner, in accordance with the decisions of the COP, the SBSTTA and any working groups established by the COP. Several items within the medium-term work programme were deferred pending further consideration by the contact group. These included: biotechnology; thematic ecosystem focus; intellectual property rights; identification, monitoring and assessment; consideration of matters related to benefit-sharing; mid-term activities to be addressed by intersessional open-ended preparatory meeting(s) coordinated by the Chair of the COP; capacity-building regarding articles 6-19 of the Convention; a Secretariat-sponsored study of existing legislation and information on access to genetic resources and the equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization; and COP-II consideration of a Secretariat- sponsored study on the implications for and interaction between TRIPs and the Convention. Key elements under consideration on the budget of the Secretariat included: executive direction and management; intergovernmental processes and cooperative arrangements; the financial mechanism and economic analysis; legal advice and support; and scientific, technical and technological matters. Bracketed text in agenda item 6.6 (Financial Rules) was the subject of protracted and intense negotiations with consultations continuing until the final Plenary on the unresolved issue of the scale of contributions. Mauritania reported that the issues assigned for consideration were extremely complex and that many of them had been raised for the first time here in Nassau.