Negotiating Bloc
Latin American and Caribbean Group
Content associated with Latin American and Caribbean Group
Highlights and images for 29 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Delegates negotiating compromise language on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs)
On Thursday, plenary elected the members of the compliance committees of the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, and elected Basile van Havre (Canada) and Francis Ogwal (Uganda) as Co-Chairs of the Working Group on the post-2020 framework. Following informal consultations on digital sequence information under the Nagoya Protocol, safeguards in biodiversity financing mechanisms, and ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs), plenary adopted the meeting’s reports and decisions, including the budget. Delegates heard regional statements, and followed a video presentation on the 2020 Conference, to be held in Beijing, China.
CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer outlined the successes of the meeting, including, among others: committing to an inclusive and flexible preparatory process for the post-2020 framework; calling for a UN decade on ecosystem restoration; and committing to the final “two-year sprint towards the Aichi finish line.” She further emphasized the need to: “bend the curve” of biodiversity loss; move from a model of incremental change to transformational change; and recognize that saving cultural diversity goes hand-in-hand with saving biological diversity.
UN Biodiversity Conference President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, emphasized the spirit of mutual respect that prevailed during the Conference. She stressed that “marvelous work was done willingly and lovingly,” inviting delegates and participants to take the message “one step higher to raise the bar and materialize all the decisions that have been agreed.” She gaveled the Conference to a close at 9:02 pm.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis from the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon
For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page
Dais durng plenary observed a moment of silence in memory of colleagues who passed away
Conference participants observed a moment of silence
Hayo Haanstra (the Netherlands), Chair of Working Group I
Clarissa Nina (Brazil), Chair of Working Group II
Monyrak Meng (Cambodia), Rapporteur
Elena Makeyeva, Belarus
Final day of the plenary session of the UN Biodiversity Conference
Delegates from Mexico
Helmut Gaugitsch, EU
Rosemary Paterson, New Zealand
Ga Youn Cho, Republic of Korea
Norbert Bärlocher, Switzerland
Ghanim Abdulla, Qatar
Mitzi Gurgel Valente da Costa, Brazil
Salomón Botero Bermudez, youngest meeting participant, with the Colombian delegation
Christiane Paulus, Germany
Ralph Sontag, Pew Charitable Trusts
Win Naing Thaw, Myanmar
Holly Kelley-Weil, UK
L-R: Anwar Al-Hemiary and Abdulghani Al-Bokwali, Yemen
Wendy Yap, Singapore
Gurdial Singh, Malaysia
Sarah Wyatt, The Global Environment Facility
Ali Mansoor Abbas Abdulla, Bahrain
Khaled Fouda Saddiq Mohammed, Governor of South Sinai, Egypt
Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary
Christine von Weizsäcker, ECOROPA, for the International Women's Biodiversity Network
L-R: Christian Schwarzer, Mirna Ines Fernandez, and Sharath Kolan Reddy, Global Youth Biodiversity Network
Humberto Delgado Rosa, EU
Marci Gompers-Small, Suriname, for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
Chengshou Bai, China
Helena Brown, Antigua and Barbuda, for the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC)
Delegates from South Africa
COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, joined by her son Ali Hussein Shabana
COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, gaveled the meeting to a close at 9:02 pm
Delegates from China
Delegates from the EU
Delegates from Austria
Delegates from IUCN
Delegates from UN Environment Programme
Basile van Havre, Canada, with Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, CBD Secretariat
COP 14 ENB team with (front row) Nicole Schabus, Elaine Limjoco, Lynn Finnegan, and Amanda Rude; (back row) Francis Dejon, Asheline Appleton, Merium Fouad, Elsa Tsioumani, and Asterios Tsioumanis
Daily report for 22 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
Report of main proceedings for 21 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
Summary report 19–23 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
Report of main proceedings for 19 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
Highlights and images for 17 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, with Mirjam de Koning, Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust, winner of the Pathfinder Award
On Saturday morning, the opening plenary of the main proceedings of the UN Biodiversity Conference heard from the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and high-level officials. The afternoon plenary addressed organizational matters, and heard reports and opening statements.
The President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi noted ancient Egypt’s awareness of ecosystems and the dedication of the pharaohs to nature, and stressed Egypt’s constitutional protection for nature and natural resources. Pointing out that the CBD did not manage to fully mobilize the international community to effectively preserve biodiversity due to lack of mainstreaming, he called for integration of CBD objectives across all sectors.
For more details on the day’s events and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis from the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon
For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page
Egyptian school children perform for COP 14 participants showing the importance of biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
José Octavio Tripp Villanueva, Ambassador of Mexico to Egypt, on behalf of COP 13 Presidency
COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt
View of the spill over room during the opening session of COP 14
Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary
Abdel Fattah Khalil el-Sisi, President of Egypt
A video message by Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the UN General Assembly
L-R: David Cooper, CBD Deputy Executive Secretary; COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt; and Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary
A video message by Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General
Corli Pretorius, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)
Diego Ignacio Moreno, Argentina, for GRULAC
Niall O'Dea, Canada
Gabriele Obermayr, Austria
Elena Makeyeva, Belarus
Video by National Geographic
Coletha Ruhamya, Rwanda
Tatiana Degai, Indigenous Women's Network on Biodiversity
Gadir Lavadenz, CBD Alliance
Hoda Yacoub, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB)
L-R: Sanda Anjara Rakotomalala and Adina Arth, Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN)
Clare Hamilton, Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
Kaspar Sollberger, Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing
Hamdallah Zedan, Egypt
2018 Midori Prize winners
CBD National Focal Point for Cameroon booth
ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity booth
Egyptian media interviewing COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt
Daily report for 17 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Daily report for 15 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Summary report 13–28 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Highlights and images for 9 November 2018
30th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
Delegates from the European Union (EU) in discussions at the contact group on Adjustments
The thirtieth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (MOP 30) convened for its final day on Friday, 9 November 2018, in Quito, Ecuador. The Budget Committee, contact groups and informal discussions met throughout the day. The High-Level Segment (HLS) convened in the morning to hear statements from heads of delegation, then adjourned for a brief resumption of the Preparatory Segment to receive updates from contact groups and informal discussions. The afternoon was devoted to contact groups and informal discussions, with the Preparatory Segment tentatively scheduled for a stocktaking session at 8:30 pm.Updates:- 7:55 pm: Plenary is rescheduled to 9:00 pm.- 9:35 pm: Preparatory Segment reconvenes.- 10:12 pm: High-Level Segment resumes to consider decisions forwarded by the Preparatory Segment.- MOP closed at 11:10 pm.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily reports and daily web coverage from MOP 30. In addition, IISD Reporting Services will publish a summary and analysis report of the meeting in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera
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High Level Segment
MOP 30 President Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia, gavels the meeting to a close at 11:10 pm.
Delegates during the adoption of the meeting report
Alfredo Pérez, Director General, Environmental Quality Management, Venezuela
Taefu Lemi Taefu, Associate Minister of Natural Resources and Environment
Amb. Diennaryati Tjokrosuprihatono, Indonesia
Laurentiu Neculaescu, State Secretary, Romania
Amb. Jean Baptiste Chaurin, France
Alexander Teabo, Minister of Environment, Lands and Agriculture Development, Kiribati
Amb. Igar Paluan, Belarus
Charles Ikeah, Nigeria
Rosa Luisa Ebentretch, Ministry of Production, Peru
Amb. Luigi William Ixcot Rojas, Guatemala
Arsen Ryspekov, State Agency on Environment Protection and Forestry, Kyrgystan
Jeanne Josette Acacha Akoha, Ministry of Life Framework and Sustainable Development, Benin
Racine Kane, Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Senegal
Roxanne Blesam, Executive Director, Environmental Quality Protection Board, Palau
Satyendra Kumar Purkayastha, Bangladesh
Ibraheem Alallan, Director, Atmospheric Safety, Syria
Thelma Krug, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Marissa Gowrie, Ministry of Planning and Development, Trinidad and Tobago
Didier Coulomb, International Institute for Refrigeration
Avipsa Mahapatra, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
Juan Sebastián Salcedo, Ecuador
Giovanni Brunelli, Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, Italy
Delegates during the contact group on Adjustments
Alain Wilmart, Belgium, and Agustín Sánchez Guevara, Mexico, Co-Chairs of the contact group on Adjustments
L-R: Alain Wilmart, Belgium; Agustin Sánchez Guevara, Mexico; Katherine Theotocatos and Flavia Barlassina, Ozone Secretariat; and Tina Birmpili, Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat
Delegates from the Adjustments contact group in informal consultations
Delegates during the contact group on Energy Efficiency
Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC) delegates in discussions
Tjekero Tweya, Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and Small and Medium-Size Enterprises (SME), Namibia, and MOP 30 President Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia
L-R: María Barroeta, Alfredo Pérez, and Yusbelys Belsario, Venezuela
The delegation from Romania
The delegation from Benin
The delegation from Slovakia
The delegation from the Maldives
The Brazilian delegation, L-R: (back row) Gabriela Lira, Alessandra Toledo, and Maria Eugênia Pulino, (front row) Magda Luduvice and Patricia Leite
L-R: Gilbert Bankobeza, Ozone Secretariat; Yaqoub Almatouq, Kuwait; MOP 30 Rapporteur Bitul Zulhasni, Indonesia; Tina Birmpili, Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat; MOP 30 President Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia; Megumi Seki, Deputy Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat; and Martha Leyva, Ozone Secretariat
Around the Venue
Rajendra Shende, TERRE Policy Centre, and Amit Love, India
Duncan Brack, Report Writer, and Keith Reply, ENB
Delegates read the ENB
The ENB team at MOP 30, L-R: Keith Ripley, US; Claudia Friedrich, Germany; Tallash Kantai, Kenya; Nadia Sohier Zaman, Canada; Diego Noguera, Colombia; and Priscila Pereira de Andrade, Brazil