Notification 2007-075

Dear Madam/Sir, As you may know, in Section D-I of Decision VIII/5, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the criteria for the operation of the Voluntary Funding Mechanism to facilitate the participation of indigenous and local communities in the work of the Convention. The Section A (d) of the Annex to the above Decision provides for the consultation with an Advisory Selection Committee consisting of seven representatives of indigenous and local communities nominated by indigenous and local communities from the seven geo-cultural regions applied under the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). After due consideration of nominations received in response to my Notification dated 27 June 2006 (Ref. SCBD/SEL/OJ/SG/55097), and in accordance with the selection criteria established in the Section A (d) of the Annex to the referred Decision, I am pleased to inform you that the seven members of the Advisory Selection Committee have been selected. The list of selected representatives from the seven geo-cultural regions recognized by the UNPFII is attached for your information. I hereby invite indigenous and local communities representatives, who wish to receive funding from the Voluntary Trust Fund in order to participate in the Fifth Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (WGABS-5) and the Fifth Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions (WG8J-5) to be held in Montreal on 8-12 October 2007 and on 15-19 October 2007 respectively, to send their application forms no later than 15 July 2007. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. The Voluntary Fund Applications Forms are available in the six official languages of the United Nations on the CBD website at the following link: http://www.cbd.int/traditional/fund.shtml. The completed application forms should be sent to the Secretariat either by fax to: +1 514 288 6588, or by electronic mail as a scanned attachment to: secretariat@cbd.int, together with a recent Curriculum Vitae and an official letter of recommendation from the relevant organization addressed to the Executive Secretary of the CBD. I look forward to the participation of your organization in the meetings and your continued contribution to the work of the Convention. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration. ANNEX Selected members for the Advisory Selection Committee of the Voluntary Trust Fund to Facilitate the Participation of Indigenous and Local Communities in the Work of the Convention on Biological Diversity Africa Mr. Emmanuel Nengo, Burundi Asia Ms. Suraporn Suriyamonton, Thailand Central and South America and the Caribbean Mr. Onel Masardule Arias, Panama Arctic (including Europe) Ms. Gun-Britt Retter, Norway Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus Ms. Erjen Khamaganova, Russia North America Mr. Merle C. Alexander, Canada Pacific Ms. Malia Nobrega. Hawaii

Executive Secretary

To: Indigenous and Local Communities