During another busy day, negotiations in contact groups and Friends of the Chair groups showed signs of progress. Many wondered, however, whether the pace is fast enough to make it to the finish line on time.
Deliberations on the global biodiversity framework (GBF) bore some results, although incessant disagreements on its goals indicate that parties’ visions on the future of global biodiversity governance still differ. The group on monitoring and reporting, on the other hand, moved forward, reaching agreement to conduct a global review of the collective progress in implementation of the GBF, once it is adopted.
Want to dig deeper into the negotiations? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report in English ou en Français.
With a stocktaking plenary scheduled for Saturday afternoon, and protesters surrounding the conference center once again, pressure mounted for a successful and meaningful outcome. Work on the more challenging items continued late into the evening, with groups addressing the GBF, digital sequence information, and marine and coastal biodiversity, among other issues.
The Working Groups approved their first conference room papers on less controversial items, including Article 8(j) (traditional knowledge) and items related to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing (ABS). Topics such as the Biosafety Clearing-House and the ABS Clearing-House may attract less political attention and thus draw less controversy in international negotiations, they are however crucial for the national implementation of commitments.
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All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
Selected Images from the Negotiations
WG II Chair Helena Brown, Antigua and Barbuda
Vienna Pozer, Canada
Andrew Stott, UK
Camila Isabel Zepeda Lizama, Mexico
Haike Jan Haanstra, the Netherlands
WG I Chair Rosemary Paterson, New Zealand
David Cooper, CBD Deputy Executive Secretary, with Vienna Pozer, Canada
Rahma Mostafa, League of Arab States, with Abderahmane Zino Izourar, Algeria
Allan Solis, Costa Rica
View of the room during a contact group on mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting, and review
Carlos Augusto Rollemberg de Resende, Brazil
Moustafa Fouda, Egypt
From L-R: Jihyun Lee, CBD Secretariat; Basile van Havre, Canada; and Francis Ogwal, Uganda
Delegates conferring during the morning session of WG II
Between Sessions
Around the Venue
Protests
