ENB:09:06
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BRAZIL:
Amb. Rubens Ric£pero, Brazilian Minister of the
Environment and the Amazon Region, noted the innovative principles
of the Convention, such as the recognition of the intrinsic value
of biological diversity. He said that the extent to which
developing countries will implement their commitments depends on
developed countries' implementation of their commitments related to
financial resources and transfer of technology. He noted that in
relation to the interim financial mechanism, the notion of "global
benefit" is not reflected in the Convention and that the
incremental costs incurred by developing countries in implementing
the Convention bear no relation whatsoever to any measure of global
benefit. The role of this Committee is to reflect on the criteria
to be established by the COP for the developing countries and the
financial mechanism to be used. He said that there is no room for
exotic notions alien to this Convention.
PROCEDURAL MATTERS
The provisional agenda allowed for less than half of the first
morning to deal with procedural issues, including the election of
the Bureau, the adoption of the agenda and programme of work. These
matters, however, were not easily resolved by the Committee.
Despite an attempt by the Secretariat to facilitate informal
consultations between Governments on these procedural matters
before the beginning of the session, delegates still needed time
for additional consultations. When all was said and done, almost a
day and a half was spent on these procedural matters, at the
expense of discussion on the substantive issues.