Notification 2021-037

Dear Madam/Sir, In preparation for the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (COP-MOP 4), the Secretariat is seeking the inputs and collaboration of Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to facilitate reporting on Article 22 on capacity - capacity-building, capacity development and strengthening of human resources and institutional capacities and Article 21 on awareness-raising of the Nagoya Protocol. I refer to notification 2019-013 (https://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2019/ntf-2019-013-abs-en.pdf) of 5 February 2019, outlining COP-MOP 3 decisions and actions, particularly on information sharing obligations. In decision NP-3/5 (https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-03/np-mop-03-dec-05-en.pdf) related to Article 22, Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations were invited to expand their efforts to share information about their capacity-building initiatives, including emerging experiences, best practices and lessons learned, and capacity-building resources through the Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) Clearing-House. Further, decision NP-3/6 (https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-03/np-mop-03-dec-06-en.pdf) related to Article 21, requested the Executive Secretary to seek feedback from Parties, non-Parties and other relevant actors on the access and benefit-sharing awareness-raising toolkit and to provide an update on the progress of implementation of the awareness-raising strategy for the consideration of COP-MOP 4. The update on Article 22, to be prepared by the Secretariat, will rely on the information published in the ABS Clearing-House. Therefore, I wish to invite Parties, other Governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, and relevant stakeholders, in particular capacity-building providers, to publish and/or update relevant information about their ABS capacity-building initiatives (activities, projects and programmes) as well as capacity-building and awareness-raising resources, in the ABS Clearing-House. Those with a CBD account can publish this information in the ABS Clearing-House at: https://absch.cbd.int/signin?returnUrl=%2Fregister. Those without a CBD account can sign up for one at: https://accounts.cbd.int/signup. Please note that there is no need to have an account to search information in the ABS Clearing-House. In addition, the Secretariat has prepared a brief survey to provide anonymous feedback on the CEPA Toolkit – Including considerations for access and benefit-sharing (https://absch.cbd.int/database/resource/16B113CB-CC86-0008-4D4B-4B29E846B83C) and an update on measures undertaken since 2019 to implement the awareness-raising strategy. In this regard, I am pleased to invite Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to respond to the survey available at: https://forms.office.com/r/PaQaRARBuE as soon as possible but no later than 31 May 2021. For any questions or assistance regarding the ABS Clearing-House and/or to fill out the survey, please contact the Secretariat at absch@cbd.int. In order to receive immediate technical support for the ABS Clearing-House, a live chat help desk service has been made available on the website to allow interaction with Secretariat staff for technical help and guidance, if needed. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points, ABS National Focal Points, ABS Clearing-House National Publishing Authorities and relevant actors