Highlights for Monday, 1 December 2008

CMS COP 9 opened today in Rome, Italy. Participants met in plenary in the morning for a high-level opening ceremony and to consider administrative matters as well as reports by Convention and agreement bodies.

During the high-level opening ceremony, statements were made by: James Butler, Deputy Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization; Executive Secretary Hepworth; His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco; Stefania Prestigiacomo, Italian Minister of Environment, Land and Sea; Fabio De Lillo, Environment Counselor to the City of Rome; and Chris Butler-Stroud, International Chief Executive Officer of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). Delegates also watched a video message by UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. Coverage of this high-level ceremony can be found here.

Delegates elected Fernando Espina (Italy) as COP 9 Chair and Alfred Oteng-Yeboah (Ghana) as Vice-Chair. Plenary discussed an overview of the Secretariat’s activities, as well as reports by the Depositary, the Standing Committee and the Scientific Council.

The Committee of the Whole (COW), which was chaired by Vice-Chair Oteng-Yeboah, met in the afternoon to discuss three key policy issues: climate change, highly pathogenic avian influenza and migratory marine species.

The first Meeting of the Parties (MOP 1) to the Gorilla Agreement resumed in the late afternoon for a brief session, chaired by MOP 1 Chair Samy Mankoto (UNESCO). Delegates discussed: action plans on the eastern and western lowland gorillas; financial and administrative matters; monitoring and reporting; and establishing the Technical Committee. The two action plans were adopted, and text on the budget was approved. Delegates decided to reconvene the meeting on Wednesday, to adopt revised draft resolutions and discuss remaining pending issues

Morning Plenary

Committee of the Whole

Gorilla MOP

Dec 1 - Dec 2 - Dec 3 - Dec 4 - Dec 5

Digimarc and the Digimarc logo are registered trademarks of Digimarc Corporation.  The "Digimarc Digital Watermarking" Web Button is a trademark of Digimarc Corporation, used with permission.

Please e-mail the Digital Editor if you have any questions regarding the content of this page.

| Back to Linkages home | Visit IISDnet | Send e-mail to ENB |
© 2008, IISD. All rights reserved.