ENB @ WG ABS 6 of CBD, 21-25 January 2008, Geneva, Switzerland

Sixth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing of the Convention on Biological Diversity (ABS 6)

21 - 25 January 2008 | Geneva, Switzerland

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ABS 6 Highlights: Friday, 25 January 2008

On Friday, 25 January, the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) adjourned its morning plenary meeting to allow the contact group on the main components of the international regime to finalize its work. The closing plenary convened at 4:00 pm, to adopt the meeting’s recommendation to the Conference of the Parties, including an annex on the international regime, as well as the report of the meeting.

Contact Group on the Main Components

The contact group on the main components of the international regime met early in the morning to continue its deliberations that had continued until late the previous night. Delegates went through all the components proposed in the co-chairs’ paper, grouped under sections on fair and equitable benefit-sharing, access to genetic resources, compliance, traditional knowledge, and capacity building, keeping them as components for further elaboration in case of agreement, or moving them to the list of points for further consideration in case of disagreement. According to its extended mandate, the contact group then briefly considered two papers including compilations of options on nature and on scope, which reflected countries’ submissions.


Delegates during the deliberations of the contact group on the main components.	Valerie Normand, CBD Secretariat and Contact Group Co-Chairs, Rene Lefeber (Netherlands) and Pierre du Plessis (Namibia)


Matthias Buck, EU	Patricia Holmes, Australia	Monica Rosell, Peru


Gurdial Nijar, Malaysia (right), for the Like-minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMC), supported by the African Group and GRULAC, suggested removing an element on international access standards from a list of tools to enforce compliance.	Hugo Schally and Matthias Buck, EU, supported retaining the element on international access standards under the list of tools to enforce compliance, drawing attention to the linkages between access and compliance.


Victoria Lichtenstein, Argentina	Sem Shikongo, Namibia, for the African Group.	Fernando Coimbra, Brazil

Plenary Session


Linus Spencer Thomas (Grenada) reported on progress achieved in the contact group on the draft decision.	Pierre du Plessis (Namibia) reported on progress achieved in the contact group on the objective and main components.	With regard to the item on international access standards in relation to compliance, Gurdial Nijar, Malaysia, presented a compromise proposal by the LMMC, the African Group and GRULAC, namely to place the item under the tools to encourage compliance, removing it from the list of tools to enforce compliance.


Matthias Buck, EU, announced they can accept the compromise proposal.	Chiho Horiuchi, Japan, expressed its reservation with regard to sections on the objective and the scope included in the annex to the Working Group's recommendation, noting lack of discussion, and agreed that this be reflected in the report of the meeting.	Robert McLean, Canada, proposed that a third option clearly reflect the possibility that the COP instruct the Working Group to draft non-legally binding provisions for the regime.


Delegates applauded CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf's closing statement, in which he said he was convinced that COP 9 will be a major step in the collective journey towards the adoption of an international regime on ABS at COP 10, to be held in October 2010.