Summary
Following the conclusion of the High-Level Segment (HLS) and adoption of the Cancun Declaration, the main part of the UN Biodiversity Conference started in the afternoon of Sunday, 4 December, with opening plenaries of the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP/COP-MOP 8) and the second meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP/COP-MOP 2).
Plenaries addressed organizational matters, and heard reports and opening statements. Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico, was elected President of COP 13, CP/COP-MOP 8 and NP/COP-MOP 2. Mette Gervin Damsgaard (Denmark) and Skumsa Mancotywa (South Africa) were elected Chairs of Working Group I and Working Group II, respectively.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, daily reports and a summary and analysis report from the UN Biodiversity Conference. The summary and analysis report is available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Francis Dejon
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Opening Plenary
View of the plenary
L-R: David Cooper, Deputy Executive Secretary, CBD Secretariat; Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, President of COP 13; Chun Kyoo Park, Director-General, Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea; Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); Ibrahim Thiaw, Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment; and Cristiana Pașca Palmer, Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Romania,
and incoming CBD Executive Secretary
Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, President of COP 13
Chun Kyoo Park, on behalf of COP 12 Presidency
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, CBD Executive Secretary
Ibrahim Thiaw, Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment
Cristiana Pașca Palmer, Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Romania,
and incoming CBD Executive Secretary
Randolph Antonio Edmead, Saint Kitts and Nevis
Ana Morales, Guatemala
Habib Gademi, Chad
Senka Barudanovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Fabiola Jurado Mendoza, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB)
Tia Stevens, Australia
Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General for the Environment, European Commission
Yoshihiro Seki, State Minister of Environment, Japan
James Kaliisa and Grecia Barcena, Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN)
David Cooper, Deputy Executive Secretary, CBD
Jimena Nieto Carrasco, Colombia
Hamdallah Zedan, Egypt, and former CBD Executive Secretary (center), with other delegates from Egypt
COP13 Snapshots
Ione Anderson, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI)
and Lily Rodriguez, International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS)
Smart bikes are free to use by everyone attending COP 13