Friday, July 6, 2012

Nagoya Protocol meeting builds momentum towards entry into force

Montreal, 6 July 2012. With a spirit of compromise and constructive engagement, Governments concluded a week-long meeting where they advanced in the preparations for the entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing.

At the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol (ICNP), held in New Delhi this week, some 500 delegates agreed on recommendations relating to key issues for the entry into force and implementation of the ground-breaking treaty on the use of genetic resources.

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization, agreed in 2010 at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, will enter into force 90 days after 50 Parties have ratified it. As of today, five countries have ratified and 93 have signed.

During the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee, Parties demonstrated their commitment to early ratification of the Protocol and their ongoing efforts to expedite the required domestic procedures to that effect. It is expected that before the end of the year a number will have completed the necessary domestic steps and formally deposited their instrument of ratification with the Secretary-General.

The Committee advanced recommendations on compliance, capacity-building, awareness-raising, a clearing-house, guidance to the financial mechanism, resource mobilization and a global mechanism for benefit-sharing in preparation for the first meeting of the governing body of the Protocol, which is expected to take place in 2014.

The Committee also forwarded recommendations regarding the Nagoya Protocol to the upcoming eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 11) which is scheduled to take place in Hyderabad, India from 8 to 19 October 2012. COP 11 will be asked to ensure that continued support can be provided for awareness-raising and capacity-building in support of ratification of the Protocol. The Committee also recommended to the Conference of the Parties that it should hold another meeting in order to complete its work in preparation for entry into force of the Protocol.

Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity said: “Parties have demonstrated that they are committed to bringing the Nagoya Protocol into force. Their discussions over the week were constructive and they advanced on the key issues that will need to be agreed by entry into force of the Protocol.”

He added that: “During the week, a number of Parties also communicated the status of ratification, and indicated that they are working with all speed to enable the legislation and policies that are needed to ensure ratification.”

In-session documents of the meeting, including recommendations for adoption, are available at:
http://www.cbd.int/icnp2/in-session/

No comments:

Post a Comment