ENB:09:06
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TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING:
The Working
Group agreed to recommend that the Secretariat: identify existing
clearing-house mechanisms and existing mechanisms for information
exchange and report on their expertise; catalogue existing
databases of relevance to the Convention and identify their gaps
and linkages; and examine and report on existing examples and
possible models for national legislation for regulating access to
genetic resources, with due attention to its potentially
conflicting nature and for agreements and other practices for
regulating access to genetic resources.
@HEAD2.5 = CLOSING SESSION
The final Plenary meeting was held Friday afternoon. The first item
of business was the adoption of the agenda that included: 1) the
presentation for adoption of the reports from Working Group I and
II; 2) a discussion of the work to be done in the coming months
including the setting of priorities for the documents to be
prepared by the Secretariat and their actions; 3) a discussion of
the next meetings of the ICCBD and the COP, including the dates,
venue and suggestions for the agenda; 4) adoption of the report of
the ICCBD and; 5) statements of Governments and officers. The
agenda was adopted, however, prolonged discussion on the reports of
the working groups left the ICCBD with no time to address items 2,
3 and 5.
During a delay, while a copy of the Working Group II report was
being prepared, Ashish Kothari from the Indian Institute of Public
Administration delivered a statement reflecting a majority view
from the NGOs present at the meeting. He expressed concerns that
included:
- Governments have given far too little attention at this meeting to the larger forces causing biodiversity loss, including adverse economic relations;
- The ICCBD should set up working groups on forestry, fisheries, agriculture, industry and energy by the Interim Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (ISTAC);
- The ICCBD had not discussed or asked the Secretariat to prepare reports on the effects that international institutions and agreements have on biodiversity;
- Delegates have overlooked the role of indigenous peoples and other traditional communities and should give legal and administrative recognition to the importance of local communities in the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes and policies; and
- The "discredited" GEF remains the interim funding mechanism and, in the meantime, Governments should discuss multiple, suitable and diverse funding mechanisms that are democratic, transparent and responsive to community, local and national priorities.
Working Group II's report was transmitted to Plenary first. Mexico,
supported by Brazil, insisted that all the amendments made in the
Working Group during the morning be read out. Tanzania, Senegal and
Nigeria disagreed. After a lengthy debate, the report of Working
Group II was reopened and amended. Each mention of the phrase
"agreed" was amended to read "agreed to recommend". The oral
presentations of amendments took considerable time and there was
confusion on the part of some delegates as to the final wording of
the document. For this reason, it was not possible to reach
consensus on the report of Working Group II. The Chair decided that
the report would be taken up at the next session of the ICCBD.
Colombia suggested that a similar procedure be taken with the
report of Working Group I. The Chair of Working Group I insisted
that he be allowed to transmit his report, which he read out,
including all the amendments. Sweden and Malaysia said that they
needed time to reflect on the report and suggested that the report
be adopted with the report of Working Group II at the next session.
Brazil and Mozambique urged adoption of the report. The Chair
decided that the report of Working Group I would be adopted at the
next meeting of the ICCBD.
As this decision left both the establishment of the ISTAC and the
recommendations for the work of the Secretariat unresolved, the
Chair made two proposals:
- The Executive Director will convene a scientific and technical committee in accordance with the terms of reference in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the unadopted report of Working Group I; and
- Pending formal acceptance of the reports of Working Groups I and II at the next meeting of the Committee, the Secretariat should be guided by their contents in its preparatory work for the second meeting of the Committee, in accordance with the normal procedures of the United Nations.
These proposals were adopted. After delegates adopted the report of
the ICCBD on its first session (UNEP/CBD/IC/1/L.1), the session was
adjourned.
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