ENB @ GMA Second Workshop, New York; June 13-15, 2005

	Second International Workshop to Consider a Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment Including Socio-Economic Aspects United Nations Headquarters, New York \| 13-15 June 2005

Earth Negotiations Bulletin - ENB
Daily Web Coverage	English			French			Spanish
Daily Web Coverage	HTM	PDF	TXT	HTM	PDF	TXT	HTM	PDF	TXT
Curtain Raiser
06 June
07 June
08 June
09 June
10 June & UNICPOLOS Summary
13 June	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14 June	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15 June & GMA Summary

To view PDF files, you will need the free Adobe Reader

UNICPOLOS ENB SUMMARY	HTML	PDF	ASCII
ENGLISH
FRANÇAIS
ESPAÑOL

GMA ENB SUMMARY	HTML	PDF	ASCII
ENGLISH
FRANÇAIS
ESPAÑOL

Second GMA International Workshop a Success

On Wednesday, delegates to the second international workshop to consider a regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects (second GMA international workshop) reconvened in Plenary and completed discussions of the revised draft chairman's proposal of conclusions which will form the Secretary General's report on the workshop to the General Assembly. Chair John Roberts of the United Kingdom gaveled the meeting to a close at 5:30 P.M.

Above, delegates from India, the United States, China and Canada gathered during lunch to discuss portions of the text dealing with outputs.

Wednesday, 15 June
Plenary
Workshop Chair John Roberts of England and Secretary Alice Hicuburundi of Burundi.
Tom Laughlin of the United States suggested establishing an open ended review of the work of the steering committee.	Huh Jung Ae of the Republic of Korea expressed doubts as to whether the Assessment of Assessments should provide advice to the General Assembly, or to member States.	Marcos de Almeida of Brazil questioned how the steering group would work, noting that there were cheaper ways of achieving transparency, such as including the review of the Assessment of Assessments in the Informal Consultative Process.
Elie Jarmache of France enquired about the composition of the expert group, questioning whether it would include only representatives of member States, or also experts from agencies.	Alfonso Ascencio Herrera of Mexico highlighted the need for a healthy balance between efficiency and transparency, stating that only states and leading agencies should be represented on the steering committee.	Zhou Yong of China said it was too early in the process to determine whether regional approaches were appropriate.
Manimuthu Ghandi of India underscored lack of clarity for the terms "geographical scale," "ecological scale," and "regional approaches," noting an expert should be identifying the scope of these definitions.	Mari Skâre of Norway advocated for a "light structure" for the task force, and questioned whether the Informal Consultative Process is the right forum for policy guidance, stressing that this discussion belongs in the General Assembly.	Lori Ridgeway of Canada underlined that the review does not have to take place mid-term, but can be ongoing.
Hermien Busschbach of the Netherlands stressed that the language of the conclusions should reflect the outcome of the WSSD.	Bosse Hedberg of Sweden supported a proposal to use language from General Assembly resolution 59/24 that called for the establishment of the GMA.	Mostafa Dolatyar of Iran asked whether UN agencies were prepared to assume responsibility for the GMA.
Tri Tharyat of Indonesia warned against prejudging the General Assembly's decision on outputs from the Assessment of Assessments.	Serge Garcia of FAO expressed concern that lack of information on the need for additional funding would delay the assessment process.	Stefan Kiel of Germany called attention to a point requiring the GMA's work to be relevant, stating that obviously work should be relevant.
Ignacio Llanos of Chile stressed the need to include reference to addressing socioeconomic aspects.	DOALOS Director Vladimir Golitsyn indicated that there might be budgetary implications for the UN.	Jane Willing of New Zealand noted that doing away with the proposed steering committee could give raise to criticisms of the process.
Diego Malpede of Argentina reiterated concerns regarding the appropriate level of geographic scale of the assessment.	Jake Rice of Canada convened a group during the lunch break to redraft a paragraph that had been eluding consensus.	Ben Playle of Australia agreed with the Chair that some decisions on group memberships could be left for the General Assembly to consider.
Around the GMA
Marcos de Almeida of Brazil confers with Zhou Yong of China.	Lori Ridgeway of Canada confers with Diego Malpedes of Argentina.	Workshop Secretary Alice Hicuburundi answers a question from Elisa Morgera of the ENB
Your Earth Negotiations Bulletin team for UNICPOLOS-6 and the second GMA international workshop: Cecilia Vaverka (Sweden, writer), Alice Bisiaux (France, team leader), Robynne Boyd (South Africa, writer), Elisa Morgera (Italy, writer), Dan Birchall (United States, digital editor).