Summary Highlights of the Meeting:

The eighth meeting of the Ad hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) continued the negotiation of an international regime on ABS. Delegates addressed operative text on the components of the regime, including traditional knowledge, capacity building, compliance, benefit-sharing and access. A discussion on the legal nature of the regime was held in plenary and was reflected in the report of the meeting. The meeting adopted the Montreal Annex, consisting of a consolidated draft on the international regime, and a second annex on proposals for operational texts left in abeyance for consideration at the next meeting of the Working Group. The Working Group also established an intersessional process leading up to ABS 9, consisting of two distinct meetings: a Friends of the Co-Chairs group to convene in late January 2010; and a Co-Chairs' inter-regional informal consultation to convene in March 2010. ABS 9 is then scheduled to be held from 22-28 March 2010, in Cartagena, Colombia.

It is recalled that, in accordance with COP Decision IX/12, the Working Group is instructed to finalize the international regime and to submit for consideration and adoption by COP 10 an instrument/instruments to effectively implement the provisions in Article 15 and 8(j) of the Convention and its three objectives. COP 10 will be held from 18-29 October 2009, in Nagoya, Japan.