Notification 2023-102

Dear Madam/Sir, The Informal Advisory Committee (IAC) to the Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House was established at the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol (COP-MOP) in decision NP-1/2, paragraph 2, to assist the Executive Secretary with the implementation of the Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House (ABS Clearing-House) and to provide technical guidance with respect to the resolution of technical and practical issues arising from the ongoing development of the ABS Clearing-House. The decision provides that the Informal Advisory Committee shall be composed of fifteen (15) experts, primarily from Parties, and selected based on nominations provided by Parties taking into account regional balance, relevant experience and engagement in the Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House. The Informal Advisory Committee will hold at least one meeting and informal online discussions, as needed, during this intersessional period 2023-2024 and report on the outcomes of its work to the fifth meeting of COP-MOP in 2024. The meeting will be held from 13 to 15 February 2024 in Montreal, Canada. Through notification 2023-009 issued on 9 February 2023, Parties to the Nagoya Protocol were invited to nominate one expert for the IAC. Due to the low number of responses received, a reminder notification was sent on 31 March 2023 (2023-037) to extend the deadline for nominations. However, due to the lack of female nominations received from the African and the Asian and Pacific region Parties, the deadline was extended for an additional month to encourage nominations from female experts from Parties in those regions through notification 2023-077 issued on 21 July 2023. In response to the above notifications, a total of 31 nominations were received from Parties, with four or more nominations from each region. The Secretariat selected 15 experts based on their experience and involvement with the ABS Clearing-House, as well as with due regard for regional and gender balance. A letter of invitation will be sent to the selected experts together with relevant information concerning the meeting. Documents for the meeting will be posted in due course on the Secretariat’s website at: https://www.cbd.int/meetings/NP-ABSCH-IAC-2024-01 . Please accept, Sir, Madam, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Acting Executive Secretary

To: ABS National Focal Points