ENB:09:37
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DRAFTING GROUP OF THE COW
The drafting group of the Committee of the Whole (COW) met into the night to review draft Chair's texts and non-papers. Regarding the report of the SBSTTA (UNEP/CBD/COP/2/ CW/L.9), delegates agreed to, inter alia, request SBSTTA-2 to consider a 1996 programme of work consistent with the programme of work and decisions of COP-2. Regarding cooperation with other biodiversity-related conventions (UNEP/CBD/COP/2/CW/L.16), delegates distinguished between activities for the Secretariat to either explore or undertake; and broadened the text to request a report on enhanced cooperation with biodiversity-related bodies for consideration at COP-3.
Regarding Articles 6 and 8 (UNEP/CBD/COP/2/CW/L.4), delegates discussed the need for national guidelines to develop comparability without coercion. Regarding components of biodiversity under threat (UNEP/CBD/COP/2/CW/L.5), delegates deleted references to terms not defined in CBD. Final agreement on the last three paragraphs is still pending. The draft text on the Statement to the International Technical Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was agreed.
Regarding access to genetic resources, delegates agreed to request that the Secretariat continue compiling information on government measures to implement Article 15, including "any national interpretations of key terms" of Article 15. A specific list of such terms was deleted after much debate. Delegates also requested the Secretariat to compile information on social and economic valuation of genetic resources. References to the FAO Undertaking on PGR, the status of ex situ germplasm collections, and a link between Article 15 and Articles 8(j) and 10(c) were removed.
On intellectual property rights, delegates agreed upon the nature and timing of the interaction between the Secretariats of the CBD and WTO, in order for the COP to provide input "regarding the synergies and relationship between the objectives of the CBD and the TRIPs Agreement" to the Committee on Trade and Environment of WTO. The other major element of the decision was the call for a preliminary Secretariat study of the "effects and implications of IPR systems" on the three objectives of CBD.