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CLOSING PLENARY
The President, Dr I. Dumont, opened the Plenary by inviting Tennyson Wells, Minister of Agriculture (Bahamas) to introduce the draft declaration by the Ministers of small island States, adopted at COP-I as contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/Inf.12. Wells highlighted the special vulnerability and needs of the AOSIS regarding biodiversity and climate change issues. The declaration expressed satisfaction at the inclusion of coastal and marine biodiversity as a priority item in the medium-term work programme and called for action on the implementation of the SIDS Program of Action. The following decisions were considered and adopted:
AGENDA ITEM 3: Regarding the rules of procedure as contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.12, the President thanked both the work done by Malyasia and the Chair, Mr V. Koester in their consultations. Agreement was reached on the issue of the periodicity of COP meetings (paragraph 1 of rule 4) on the basis of the draft decision UNEP/CBD/COP/1/l.14, submitted by Algeria, on behalf of the G-77 and China. However, paragraph 1 of rule 40 remains in brackets.
AGENDA ITEM 12: On the report on the credentials of the representatives to COP-I. The members of the credentials committee were: Mauritius (Chair); Malayasia; Peru; Canada; and Estonia. The credentials for 93 Parties were found to be in order with the credentials of three Parties or States still to be submitted to the Interim Secretariat. These were Armenia, Nauru and Nepal.
AGENDA ITEMS 6.1; 6.2; and 6.3: The decision on policy, strategy, programme priorities and eligibility criteria regarding access to and utilization of financial resources, institutional structure to operate the financial mechanism and the list of developed country Parties and other Parties which voluntarily assume the obligations of developed country Parties is contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.6 and corrigendum.1. The decision was adopted with the understanding that Annex II (List of developed country Parties and other Parties) will be reviewed and adjusted at COP- II. The COP also took note of the position of the G-77 and China regarding the MOU between the COP and the institutional structure for the financial mechanism, contained in document UNEP/CBD/COP/1/Inf.13.
AGENDA ITEM 6.4:The clearing-house mechanism contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.5 was adopted.
AGENDA ITEM 6.5: The decision regarding the selection of a competent international organization to carry out the functions of the Secretariat is contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.7 and L.8 (Support for the Secretariat by international organizations). UNDP was invited to support UNEP with its field work and expertise.
AGENDA ITEM 7: The decision on SBSTTA contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.4/Rev.1 was adopted.
AGENDA ITEM 8: The decision on preparation of the participation of COP in CSD contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.10 was adopted.
AGENDA ITEM 9: The medium term work-programme is contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.11 and corrigendum 1 (text of section 5.4.2 of the work programme).The Chair noted that the medium-term work programme for 1995-97 had been adopted by the Committee of the Whole and that extensive consultations were undertaken on the corrigendum, which states: “To compile information provided by Governments, as well as relevant reports from appropriate international organizations regarding policy, legislative, or adminstrative measures related to intellectual property rights as provided in Article 16 of the Convention and to access to and transfer of technology that makes use of genetic resources.” Norway, on behalf of the Nordic countries, stressed the importance of addressing the issue of a biosafety protocol. He regretted that budgetary considerations on the medium-term work programme did not allow for this and hoped that the next COP would address this. Spain offered to host the meeting of the open-ended ad hoc working group of experts on biosafety. Brazil suggested adding a reference to NGOs on this issue. Algeria, on behalf of G-77 and China, reasserted the particular importance of technology transfer for developing countries and said that the quest of IPRs should not be used to hinder the access to and transfer of, environmentally sound technologies. He stressed the need for a biosafety protocol. . The President announced that the following countries have been designated by their respective regional groups to participate in the panel of 15 experts in working group on biosafety: Albania, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Hungary, South Africa. Other regional groups will advise the Secretariat of their representatives shortly. The Asian Group met after the final plenary to designate India, China and Japan. Egypt and South Africa also offered to host the meeting of the open-ended ad hoc working group on biosafety. Brazil noted that the selection should be done on the basis of technical capacity and government nominated experts and not on a regional basis.
AGENDA ITEM 6.6 and 10: The Committee adopted the financial rules governing the funding of the Secretariat and the Secretariat’s budget, as contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.9 and L.18, with the exception of paragraph 5 that now reads: “Urges all the Parties to pay promptly their contributions to the trust fund based on the scale set forth in the appendix to the budget.” The scale of contributions is contained in UNEP/ CBD/ L.9/Add.1. The scale for contributions for 1995 was included in the appendix to the budget. The US said it interprets rule 3(a) that contributions by the Parties to the Trust fund are voluntary. Japan said that the financial rules did not consitute any legally binding obligation and intrepreted rule 3(a) as a voluntary contribution. Brazil, supported by China, said that it was unfortunate that the scale of contributions was not based on “common but differentiated responsibilities” and the concept that developing countries should not pay more than developed countries.
AGENDA ITEM 11: The decision on the location of the Secretariat contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.13 was submitted by Kenya, Spain and Switzerland and adopted with an oral amendment to the penultimate sentence of paragraph 6, which now reads: “until only two offers remain and one receives a two-thirds majority vote." Sweden suggested including criteria on the environmental soundness of the proposed facility and resources.
AGENDA ITEM 12: The President noted that the Bureau had recommended that COP-II be held from 6-17 November,1995. Indonesia indicated its interest in hosting COP-II subject to further negotiations with UNEP. The preparation for COP-II, as contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L/17, and submitted by the G-77 and China was presented as the President’s text.
AGENDA ITEM 14: The decision regarding the adoption of the Report is contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.2/Rev.1 and L.2/Add.1/Rev.1 on the proceedings of the Committee of the Whole. The Rapporteur presented UNEP/CBD/COP/1/L.1/Rev.1 and L.1/Rev.1 and L.1/Corrigendum 1. In addition, 29 December, was recognized as the International Day for Biodiversity in a decision contained in UNEP/CBD/ COP/1/L.15 introduced by Algeria, on behalf of the G-77 and China. (The UN General Assembly endorsed this decision just before Christmas.) Spain said that it would like to be included as a sponsor. France deplored the fact that translation was not easily available and documents and language was primarily in English and asked the Secretariat to take the necessary steps to ensure that COP-II rectify this situation. Amb. P. Wensley (Australia) introduced UNEP/CBD/COP/ L.16/Rev.1 (Tribute to the Government of the Commonwealth of Bahamas), which was sponsored by G-77 and China and supported by many others. NGO representatives from the Biodiversity Action Network and Greenpeace International offered several suggestions: forests and access to genetic resources should be included in the work of the SBSTTA and the medium-term work programme; increased attention to alternative sources of funding; and increased NGO participation. Greenpeace International said that delaying action on forests meant that the COP was turning over political leadership on forests to fora which would not take into account the Convention’s broad view of conservation. He said that biosafety was a ticking time bomb, and that the COP was analyzing the lit fuse. The Executive Secretary, Angela Cropper, and UNEP Executive Director Elizabeth Dowdeswell thanked the host country and all the participants for their hard work. Dowdeswell noted a technological breakthrough of COP-I’s translation system and the fact that documents had been transferred via the Internet between the Bahamas and UNEP headquarters in Nairobi. She also pointed out that documents in all languages can be accessed from the UNEP gopher <unep.unep.no>.