Scientific and technical cooperation and the clearing-house mechanism

The Conference of the Parties

1. Invites Parties to use effectively the central portal of the clearing-house mechanism and to establish or strengthen national, subregional or regional focal points for the clearing-house mechanism, if they have not done so already;
2. Requests the Executive Secretary to commission a review to assess the current and potential role of the clearing-house mechanism in promoting technical and scientific cooperation, including its role in facilitating the transfer of technology and know-how and capacity-building to support implementation of the Convention at the national level, and to report on this review to the Conference of the Parties at its seventh meeting;
3. Recommends that the Executive Secretary update and further develop the clearing-house mechanism tool kit referred to in decision IV/2 of the Conference of the Parties, incorporating the use of guidelines, best practices and new information formats, protocols and standards to assist Parties in the establishment or improvement of national, subregional or regional focal points for the clearing-house mechanism;
4. Urges the Executive Secretary to convene additional capacity-building workshops at the national, subregional and regional levels referred to in decision V/14 of the Conference of the Parties for clearing-house activities and training in support of national capacities to implement the Convention;
5. Urges the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with existing international networks of indigenous and local communities and, as appropriate, national focal points, to assist in the further development of communication networks for use by these communities, with an initial emphasis on information-sharing formats, protocols and standards, having regard to ethical issues pertaining to traditional knowledge. These networks would not be used to exchange or disclose traditional knowledge.