International Institute for Sustainable Development - Reporting Services (IISD RS) @ Second Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Protected Area; 11 February - 15 February; Second Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Protected Areas; FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy

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Thirteenth Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 13)

18 February - 22 February 2008 | Rome, Italy

Highlights from Thursday, 21 February 2008
Delegates convened in the Committee of the Whole in the morning and in working groups in the afternoon. The Committee of the Whole considered a conference room paper (CRP) on the in-depth review of the work programme on forest biodiversity. Working Group I (WG I) considered CRPs on inland water biodiversity and marine and coastal biodiversity, while WG II discussed CRPs on invasive alien species (IAS) and biodiversity and climate change. A contact group on forest biodiversity met in the afternoon and evening. Deliberations in both working groups and the contact group continued into the night.

In a late night contact group delegates focussed on forest biodiversity.

The Committee of the Whole
Forest Biodiversity: Delegates considered a CRP on the in-depth review of the work programme on forest biodiversity. Chair Hesiquio Benitez-Diaz invited delegates to make proposals and refrain from negotiating the text.


Davey Stuart, Australia, requested deleting reference to mitigation in a paragraph on climate change and biodiversity research.		Fernando Coimbra, Brazil, opposed the use of the term “illegal logging,” suggesting subsituting it with “unsustainable logging practices.”


Cheng Wei Xue, China (left), considered that logging and related trade should be addressed at the national level.		Estebancio Castro Diaz, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, suggested additional text on land and resource rights of indigeneous and local communities, and support for their adaptive management practices.


Janet Lowe, New Zealand, proposed that obstacles to implementation should be addressed “as necessary.”		Malaysian delegates


Tania Veltheim, Finland		Pat Mooney, ETC Group


Rawson Piniel Yonazi, Tanzania and Francis Ogwal, Uganda		Margaret Oduk, UNEP


Greenpeace		Shirin Karryeva, Turkmenistan		Aleksander Golob, Slovenia


Maxime Thibon, IMoSEB Secretariat		Czech Republic Delegates

Working Group I
Inland Waters Biodiversity: Delegates discussed a CRP on biological diversity of inland water ecosystems. The draft report of WG I (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/13/WG.1/L.1) was adopted with minor amendments.

WG I Chair Gabriele Obermayr (middle)


Saulo Ceolin, Brazil, requested deletion of a reference to decision VIII/27, paragraph 22, referring to the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses.		Golge Mehmet, Turkey, suggested deleting a paragraph on international cooperation towards allocating water to maintain ecological functions of inland water ecosystems.		José Luis Sutera, Argentina, requested deleting reference to Ramsar/UNEP-WCMC joint work on the allocation of water to maintain ecosystem functions.


Alfred A. Oteng Yeboah, Ghana			Emilio Edgar Rodriguez, Colombia


Delegates engaged in informal discussions during WG I.

Working Group II
Invasive Alien Species: Working Group II considered a CRP on gaps in international standards on IAS.


Matthias Buck, European Community		Yang Qingwen, China

WG II Chair Linus Spencer Thomas (middle)

Biodiversity and Climate Change: Delegates then turned to a CRP on biodiversity and climate change.


Ole Hendrickson, Canada, proposed that SBSTTA should be requested to consider progress in the implementation of mutually supportive activities under the Rio conventions in the in-depth review of the cross-cutting issue on biodiversity and climate change, prior to COP 10.		Brazil suggested recognizing the distinct mandates and independent, legal status of the respective conventions.


Gopalan Balachandhran, India		Norowi Hamid, Malaysia

Delegates engaged in informal discussions during WG II.

Contact Group on Forest Biodiversity
Delegates convened in an afternoon contact group on review of implementation of the programme of work on forest biodiversity, to propose amendments to the CRP. The contact group reconvened in the evening to consider a revised document. Preambular references to the provision of adequate, predictable and timely resources, and new and additional resources, remained bracketed. Delegates then debated the operative text at length. On promoting the sustainable management of forests and non-timber forest products, reference to improving forest biodiversity monitoring and reporting remained bracketed. Discussion on forest protected area networks, ecological connectivity and the objective of having a 10% target on the world’s forests types also remained unresolved. Debate also centered on merging references to strengthening forest governance, law enforcement and use of the term illegal logging in this context, which proved contentious.
Discussions continued into the night.

Side Event:

"Communities, Climate Change and Agricultural Biodiversity", organized by Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research.
The meeting focused on the contribution agricultural biodiversity can make to enable local communities and indigenous peoples to manage climate change.

Snapshots:

Stefan Jungcurt, ENB Team Leader, Germany

Daily Web Coverage
Monday, 18 February - Tuesday, 19 February - Wednesday, 20 February - Thursday, 21 February - Friday, 22 February

Also follow our coverage of WGPA 2
Monday, 11 February - Tuesday, 12 February - Wednesday, 13 February - Thursday, 14 February - Friday, 15 February

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