ENB @ CBD COP-6, 7-19 April 2002, The Hague, The Netherlands

We have launched a new website to better share our reports of global environmental negotiations.

As well as current coverage of new negotiations, you can find our original reports from this event by clicking here.

Sixth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
The Hague, The Netherlands
7-19 April 2002

Daily Web Coverage: Images and Real Audio

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
April 7	April 8	April 9	April 10	April 11	April 12
	April 15	April 16	April 17	April 18

ENB Summary
April	HTML	PDF	TXT
22

ENB daily reports
April	HTML	PDF	TXT
19
18
17
16
15
12
11
10
9
8

Highlights for Sunday 7 April 2002

Opening Plenary:

Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, Minister of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries of the Netherlands (right), welcomed delegates to The Hague. He stressed the need for specific initiatives and funding, timetables and technology transfer, as well as for synergies between environmental conventions and other international fora.

COP-5 President Joseph Kamotho, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Kenya (below), noted inter-sessional progress in the development of a Strategic Plan and in ABS, called for rapid ratification of the Biosafety Protocol and highlighted the CBD's participatory approach with regard to indigenous and local communities and stakeholders. participants elected Geke Faber, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries of the Netherlands, as COP-6 President.

Participants elected Geke Faber, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries of the Netherlands, as COP-6 President. Faber highlighted the necessary shift from policy dialogue to implementation and from conservation to sustainable use. She stressed work on genetic resources, ABS, forests and the Strategic Plan. She also highlighted the importance of a parallel youth conference.

Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of UNEP, highlighted the relevance of the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), and emphasized targeted and timetable-oriented activities (Type I) and collaborative activities of stakeholders to implement past and future decisions (Type II). He said that COP-6's deliberations should be strengthened by the planned multi-stakeholder dialogue, especially with regard to ABS, and by the high-level ministerial segment. He highlighted the pressing need to replenish the GEF.

Hamdallah Zedan, CBD Executive Secretary, noted the link between biodiversity loss, economic conditions and social injustice. He underscored: the importance of the draft Bonn guidelines on ABS; forest biodiversity; the massive damage caused by invasive species; and the Strategic Plan's potential to help focus and prioritize CBD's work. He said the CBD needs to seize the opportunity provided by the WSSD to draw attention to the interlinkages between biodiversity, sustainable development and poverty eradication.

ENB Snapshots:

The Sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties commenced with a multimedia spectacle depicting the many facets of biodiversity.

Greenpeace rally to drum up awareness to save the Ancient Forest

RECEPTION: Hosted by the Government of the Netherlands

Links:

The CBD home page

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety home page

ENB Coverage of COP-5 |SBSTTA-7 |WG on Article 8(j)-2|WG-ABS-1 |

COP-6 Provisional Agenda |PDF|WORD|

COP-6 Information for Participants in PDF

CBD-Handbook

IISD Introduction to the CBD Process

|| Back to Linkages home || Visit IISDnet || Send e-mail to ENB ||
© 2002, IISD. All rights reserved.