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ARTICLE 15 -- REGIONAL IMPLEMENTATION ANNEXES:

This Article had been bracketed pending the elaboration of the regional annexes. Once the regional annexes had taken shape, delegates agreed to delete the three sub-paragraphs that listed obligations to be set out in the annexes. The chapeau was retained and it states: "Elements for incorporation in action programmes shall be selected and adapted to the socio-economic, geographical and climatic factors applicable to affected country Parties or regions, as well as to their level of development. Guidelines for the preparation of action programmes and their exact focus and content for particular subregions and regions are set out in the regional implementation annexes."

SECTION 2: SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION

ARTICLE 16 -- INFORMATION COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND EXCHANGE: The most contentious issue in this paragraph was compensation for the use of traditional and local sources of knowledge. The Chair asked Ethiopia to hold consultations on this issue, which is also mentioned in Article 22. These consultations proved to be quite difficult since certain developing countries supported its inclusion in the Convention and certain developed countries with indigenous populations had trouble with reference to local and traditional knowledge, which is not the focus of this Convention. Agreement was not reached until the final day of the negotiations. The sub-paragraph now reads: "subject to their respective national legislation and/or policies, exchange information on local and traditional knowledge, ensuring adequate protection for it and providing appropriate return from the benefits derived from it, on an equitable basis and on mutually agreed terms, to the local populations concerned." [Return to start of article]