Capacity-building for the early entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing

Following the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing at the tenth Conference of the Parties, held in Nagoya, Japan, in October, 2010, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) contributed one million dollars to a Medium-sized project to support the ratification and early entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol. Thanks to this generous contribution, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, as the executing agency for the project, is carrying-out a series of awareness-raising and capacity-building activities in 2011 and 2012 to support the expeditious entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol. The United Nations Environment Programme is acting as the implementing agency for the project.

The main capacity-building activities of the project include:

• Briefing sessions for key partners and stakeholders including high ranking government officials, national-level legislators, and relevant UN bodies. Briefing sessions will also be held at key international meetings and parliaments.

• A component on Access and Benefit-sharing integrated into regional and sub-regional workshops on National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPS).

• Capacity building workshops for ABS national focal points and indigenous and local communities organized back to back with the first and second meetings of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol and the seventh meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8J and Related Provisions (WG8J 7).

Outreach material on ABS was also developed under the project to raise awareness of the importance of the Nagoya Protocol, and to encourage its early entry into force and effective implementation. These materials are available in all six UN languages, and include a systematic review of the provisions in the Nagoya Protocol and the implications for Governments, as well as the development of a rationale to support ratification. The materials developed are:

• A series of two page factsheets on Access and Benefit-sharing providing general information on:
  1. Access and benefit-sharing;
  2. The Nagoya Protocol; and
  3. How to become a Party to the Nagoya Protocol.

• An updated version of the ABS information kit, including a brochure on the Nagoya Protocol.

All web versions of the awareness-raising materials on ABS are available here.