European Union

On Monday, 17 July, delegates met in plenary in the afternoon to consider a revised Chair’s text containing draft recommendations to the UN General Assembly, including preambular elements of a new international legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction and its general elements, such as use of terms, scope of application, objectives and relationships with other instruments. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from the 4th Session of the Preparatory Committee Established by the UN General Assembly Resolution 69/292: Development of an International Legally Binding Instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. The summary and analysis report is now available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page L-R: Gabriele Goettsche-Wanli, Director, UNDOALOS; Barbara Boechat, Brazil; Chair Carlos Sobral Duarte, Brazil; Alice Hicuburundi, UNDOALOS; and Charlotte Salpin, UNDOALOS Chair Carlos Sobral Duarte, Brazil Larisa Chernysheva, Russian Federation Luis Oña Garcés, Ecuador, on behalf of the G-77/China Mohamed Atlassi, Morocco Josefina Bunge, Argentina Javier Gorostegui, Chile Ma Xinmin, China Shara Duncan, Costa Rica Dhisadee Chamlongrasdr, Thailand Jung-Eun Kim, Republic of Korea Mamadou Diallo, Senegal Nivaashni Devi Dharmalinyam, Malaysia Xuan Hoang Lai, Viet Nam Kjell Kristian Egge, Norway Napoleon Beras, Dominican Republic Yolannie Cerrato, Honduras Angel Horna, Peru View of PrepCom 4 from the perspective of the dais L-R: John Brincat, EU, in a conversation with Zentaro Naganuma, Japan Catherine Boucher, Canada, in a discussion with Matthías Pálsson, Iceland

On Friday, the 2017 meeting of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) started with a session on leveraging interlinkages for effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the afternoon, a session on science-policy interface and emerging issues was followed by a wrap-up of the week’s events by the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Under-Secretary-General (USG) of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage, daily reports from HLPF 2017 and also produced a summary and analysis report, which is available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page. Session 15 - Leveraging interlinkages for effective implementation of SDGs View of the dais during the session Debapriya Bhattacharya, Chair, Southern Voices, and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)  Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) Marie Chatardová, Vice President, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Charles Arden-Clarke, Head of Secretariat, 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP) Minh-Thu Pham, Executive Director for Global Policy, UN Foundation Michael Gerber, Special Envoy for Global Sustainable Development, Switzerland Irene Khan, Director General, International Development Law Organization (IDLO) Roberto Olinto, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Judith Randel, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Development Initiatives (DI) Anil Arora, Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada Jean Christian Razafiarison, Madagascar Sergey Egorenko, Russian Federation Mohammad Ali Zarie Zare, Iran Coulibaly Maïmouna Dramé, Mali Teodor Dulceaţă, Romania Marcos Bonturi, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anna Ballance, EU Youth delegate Herlinde Baeyens, Belgium Maximilian Mueller, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Session 16 - Science-policy interface and emerging issues Lead discussants speak from the podium during the session Endah Murniningtyas, National Development Planning Agency, Indonesia Peter Messerli, University of Bern, Switzerland Wang Ruijun, Ministry of Science and Technology, China, and Chair, UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) Cristián Barros Melet, Vice President of ECOSOC Moderator William Colglazier, American Academy for the Advancement of Science Stuart Taberner, Director, International and Interdisciplinary Research, Research Councils United Kingdom (RCUK)  Tolu Oni, University of Cape Town, South Africa Tom Okurut, Uganda Tateo Arimoto, Japan Pam Rajput, Women's Major Group Lucilla Spini, Scientific and Technological Community Taikan Oki, UN University Wrap up session View of the dais during the session Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, Permanent Representative of Zimbabwe to the UN, and President of ECOSOC Around the Venue Members of the Women's Major Group Delegates between sessions Elizabeth Mrema, UN Environment Delegates speak informally A delegate visits the International Institute for Sustainable Development's (IISD) SDG Knowledge Hub, an online resource center for news and commentary regarding the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including all 17 SDGs (sdg.iisd.org/) Around the UN Headquarters

On Friday, 14 July, delegates met in the informal working group on crosscutting issues, discussing: use of terms, scope and objective of the ILBI, relationship with other agreements; as well as guiding principles and approaches, and international cooperation, for BBNJ conservation and sustainable use. In the afternoon, plenary resumed to discuss next steps including the convening of an intergovernmental conference and the status of the Chair’s streamlined non-paper. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from the 4th Session of the Preparatory Committee Established by the UN General Assembly Resolution 69/292: Development of an International Legally Binding Instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. The summary and analysis report is now available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page L-R: Gabriele Goettsche-Wanli, Director, UNDOALOS; Barbara Boechat, Brazil; Chair Carlos Sobral Duarte, Brazil; and Charlotte Salpin, UNDOALOS Metod Špaček, EU Alice Revell, New Zealand Matthías Pálsson, Iceland Audrey Naana Abayena, Ghana Kabure Yeeting, Kiribati Josefina Bunge, Argentina Javier Gorostegui, Chile Narayanane Saravanane, India Essam Yassin Mohammed, Eritrea Khurshed Alam, Bangladesh Juan Cuéllar Torres, Colombia Ismail Raushan, Maldives, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Margo Deiye, Nauru, on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States Diedre Mills, Jamaica, on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Participants at PrepCom 4 Sesselja Sigurdardóttir, Iceland Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga, Mexico Mamadou Diallo, Senegal Rena Lee, Singapore Evan Bloom, US Luis Oña Garcés, Ecuador, on behalf of the G-77/China Sergey Leonidchenko, Russian Federation Rogelio Villanueva Jr., the Philippines Lisa Speer, Natural Resources Defense Council Zentaro Naganuma, Japan Hina Saeed Baig, Pakistan Ma Xinmin, China L-R: Kristina Gjerde, Cymie Payne, and Hiroko Muraki Gottlieb, IUCN L-R: Gabriele Goettsche-Wanli, Director, UNDOALOS; Barbara Boechat, Brazil; Chair Carlos Sobral Duarte, Brazil; Alice Hicuburundi, UNDOALOS; and Charlotte Salpin, UNDOALOS L-R: Javier Gorostegui, Chile, in a conversation with Metod Špaček, EU Greenpeace images and encouraging messages from the Alboran Sea Duncan Currie (second from right), Greenpeace, in a discussion with delegates from New Zealand Delegates from WWF

The thirty-ninth session of the Open-Ended Working Group of the Montreal Protocol (OEWG 39) convened for its final day on 14 July 2017, in Bangkok, Thailand. The morning plenary opened with progress reports from the contact groups and informal consultations. The plenary sent to the 29th Meeting of the Parties (MOP 29) a draft decision on essential uses of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by non-Article 5 parties after 2020. After some debate, it also forwarded to the MOP a draft decision on energy efficient technical and financial assistance and a workshop on climate and energy co-benefits of the Montreal Protocol. Plenary suspended so that the two contact groups could continue their work through late afternoon. When the plenary reconvened, it agreed to forward several draft decisions on process agents, global warming potential (GWP) values for certain substances, destruction technologies for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and a nomination for an essential-use exemption (EUE) for laboratory and analytical uses of carbon tetrachloride. The plenary also agreed on a list of items to be covered by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) in its supplementary report to the MOP on funding needs for the 2018-2020 replenishment of the Multilateral Fund (MLF). It also agreed to defer further discussion on several other matters to the MOP, including data reporting issues and nominations for critical use exemptions (CUE) for methyl bromide uses. Co-Chair Sylla gaveled the meeting to a close at 6:22 PM. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily digital coverage and a summary and analysis report from the Workshop on the Safety Standards Relevant to the Safe Use of Low-GWP Alternatives to HFCs and OEWG 39. The summary and analysis report is now available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Sean Wu For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Morning Plenary Tina Birmpili, Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat, and Co-Chair Cindy Newberg, US, speaking with Martin Sirois, Canada View of the morning plenary View of the dais Delegates from Estonia reviewing a document with a conference intern Delegates from China Ives Enrique Gómez Salas and Agustin Sánchez Guevara, Mexico Marie-Neige Philoe, Seychelles Rajendra Kumar Foolmaun, Mauritius Amit Love, India Tina Birmpili, Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia Ole-Kristian Kvissel, Norway Contact Group on MLF Replenishment View of the contact group on MLF replenishment The panel during the contact group on MLF replenishment Ana Maria Kleymeyer, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Iftikhar-ul-Hassan Gilani, Pakistan Contact Group on Data and Destruction Technologies View of dais during the contact group on data and destruction technologies Taha Mohammed Zatari, Saudi Arabia, during the morning plenary John Thompson, US Closing Plenary View of the panel during the closing plenary Co-Chair Cheikh Ndiaye Sylla, Senegal Co-Chair Agustin Sánchez Guevara, Mexico, reports back from the contact group on MLF replenishment Co-Chair Martin Sirois, Canada, reports back from the contact group on data and destruction technologies Non-Article 5 parties confer Article 5 parties confer Around the Venue Brazilian delegation IISD/ENB team (L-R): Keith Ripley, Jennifer Lenhart, Nadia Sohier Zaman, and Sean Wu