Highlights and images for 17 March 2017

Italy

Summary

On Friday morning, the Working Group addressed the full package of measures arising from its deliberations to be presented at the seventh meeting of the Treaty’s Governing Body (GB 7), including: progress towards developing a draft revised Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) aiming to increase payments to the Benefit-Sharing Fund; the modalities of a potential expansion of the coverage of the Multilateral System and links with the benefit-sharing arrangements; definitional issues on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; and the launch mechanism, including interim measures and alternatives.

All regions welcomed an offer by Switzerland to host an informal meeting, to allow for further deliberations. Participants also discussed holding a one-day meeting of the Working Group, immediately prior to GB 7, to be held in October/November 2017, in Rwanda.

On Friday afternoon, the Working Group adopted its report, including a draft SMTA as revised during the proceedings. Co-Chair Visser opined that the pace of negotiations should increase, highlighting that countries and stakeholders might lose interest in the process. Co-Chair Mozafari stressed that the agricultural community needs this agreement, and after brief closing statements, closed the meeting at 4:50 pm.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of the meeting will be available online on Monday, 20 March 2017, at: http://enb.iisd.org/biodiv/itpgrfa/owg-efmls-6/

IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided digital coverage and a summary and analysis report from OWG-EFMLS-6, which is available in HTML and PDF.

Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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 Bert Visser, Working Group Co-Chair and Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary Ad-Interim

Álvaro Toledo and Tobias Kiene, ITPGRFA Secretariat

François Meienberg and Edward Hammond, Civil Society

Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair, with Ali Chehade, Near East Region

Felicitas Katepa-Mupondwa, North America Region

Alwin Kopse, European Region

Svanhild-Isabelle Batta Torheim, European Region

Bert Visser, Working Group Co-Chair, with Modesto Fernández, Cuba

José Francisco Montenegro Valls, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, with Carlos Correa, University of Buenos Aires

Thomas Meier, European Region

Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary Ad-Interim

Catherine Karr-Colque, North America Region

Bert Visser, Working Group Co-Chair

César Tapia Bastidas, Latin America and the Caribbean Region

Pierre du Plessis, Africa Region

François Meienberg, Civil Society

Cheikh Alassane Fall, Africa Region

Paul Olson, Seed Industry

Patricia Larbouret, European Region

From L-R: Tobias Kiene, ITPGRFA Secretariat; Álvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat; and Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair

Anke van den Hurk, Seed Industry

Tamira Ford, South West Pacific Region

Kathryn Garforth, CBD Secretariat

UN Women's Guild of Rome Photo Exhibition in Celebration of International Women's Day