Preparatory processes and milestones towards COP-MOP 4

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Last updated on 13 November 2019

Item 2. Organizational matters

2.1 Adoption of agenda

Background: The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol (COP-MOP) will consider the draft provisional agenda for its fourth meeting which the Executive Secretary has prepared in consultation with the Bureau.

2.2 Election of substitute officers

Background: In electing officers for the Bureau to serve from the closure of the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the closure of the sixteenth meeting of the COP, the fourth meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol will elect substitute officers if any member of the COP Bureau is from a Party to the Convention that is not a Party to the Nagoya Protocol at that time.

2.3 Organization of work

Background: The COP-MOP will consider and adopt the organization of work for its fourth meeting. The meeting will be held concurrently with the fifteenth meeting of the COP and the tenth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

Item 3. Report on the credentials of representatives to the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol

Background: Parties are required by the rules of procedure to submit to the Executive Secretary the credentials of representatives and the names of alternate representatives and advisers not later than twenty-four hours after the opening of the meeting. The Bureau will examine the credentials and the meeting will be invited to consider and adopt the report on the credentials submitted to it by the Bureau.

Item 4. Reports of subsidiary bodies

Background: Under this item, the President will inform the COP-MOP of the meetings of subsidiary bodies held during the intersessional period and their reports on the understanding that the substantive issues arising therein will be taken up under the appropriate agenda item.

Item 5. Report of the Compliance Committee (Article 30)

Background: The Compliance Committee will hold its third meeting in the 2019-2020 biennium. COP-MOP 4 will be invited to consider the report and recommendations of the Compliance Committee and to take appropriate actions.

Item 6. Administration of the Protocol and budget for the trust funds

Background: The Executive Secretary was requested to prepare proposals for an integrated budget for the 2021-2022 biennium for consideration by the meeting of the Parties to the Convention and the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols.

Item 7. Financial mechanism and resources (Article 25)

Background: COP-MOP 4 will be invited to consider a recommendation by the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and the report of the Council of the Global Environmental Facility and to adopt a decision in this regard, including a recommendation to the COP on guidance to the financial mechanism, as appropriate.

Item 8. Measures to assist in capacity-building and capacity development (Article 22) and measures to raise awareness of the importance of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge (Article 21)

Background: COP-MOP 3 decided that the Informal Advisory Committee (IAC) on Capacity-Building for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol will hold one meeting, and online consultations as needed, in the 2019-2020 biennium to provide inputs to the evaluation of the strategic framework and to contribute to the development of the draft long-term strategic framework for capacity-building beyond 2020. Considering that the issue of capacity-building and awareness-raising are closely related both issues will be considered under the same agenda item at SBI-3 and COP-MOP 4. At its fourth meeting, COP-MOP will be invited to consider the outcomes of the deliberations by SBI-3.

Item 9. The Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House and information-sharing (Article 14)

Background: The third meeting of the COP-MOP decided that the Informal Advisory Committee (IAC) to the Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) Clearing-House will hold at least one meeting in the 2019-2020 biennium. COP-MOP 4 will be invited to consider a note by the Executive Secretary on progress in the implementation and operation of the Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House and adopt a decision in this regard.

Item 10. Monitoring and reporting (Article 29)

Background: COP-MOP 4 will be invited to consider a revised reporting format for the submission of the national report on the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and to adopt a decision in this regard.

Item 11. Cooperation with other international organizations, conventions and initiatives

Background: COP-MOP 4 will be invited to consider a note by the Executive Secretary providing an update on cooperative activities between the Secretariat and other conventions, international organisations and initiatives relevant to access and benefit-sharing and the Nagoya Protocol.

Item 12. Review of the effectiveness of structures and processes

Background: The Executive Secretary was requested to further develop the preliminary review of experience on the basis of the experience gained from the concurrent meetings in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at its third meeting. COP-MOP 4 will be invited to consider the recommendation by SBI-3.

Item 13. Post-2020 global biodiversity framework

Background: COP-MOP 4 will be invited to consider the draft post-2020 global biodiversity framework as it relates to the Nagoya Protocol and decide on any additional or complementary measures that may be required to enhance implementation of the Protocol.

Item 14. Digital sequence information on genetic resources

Background: COP-MOP 3 established a science and policy-based process on digital sequence information on genetic resources for further work on this topic in the 2019-2020 intersessional period. The process entails the submission of views and information, the commissioning and peer review of studies as well as work by an extended ad hoc technical expert group (AHTEG) on digital sequence information on genetic resources. The AHTEG is to develop options for operational terms and their implications to provide conceptual clarity on digital sequence information on genetic resources and identify key areas for capacity-building. COP-MOP also decided that the open-ended intersessional working group (OEWG) on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework would consider the outcomes of the deliberations of the AHTEG. COP-MOP, at its fourth meeting, will be invited to consider the outcomes of the deliberations of the OEWG on this issue.

Item 15. Specialized international access and benefit-sharing instruments in the context of Article 4, paragraph 4, of the Nagoya Protocol.

Background: COP-MOP 3 invited Parties and other Governments to submit: (a) information on how specialized international access and benefit-sharing instruments are addressed in their domestic measures; and (b) views on the potential criteria contained in the study, taking into account Article 4, paragraphs 1 to 3, of the Protocol. At its fourth meeting, COP-MOP will be invited to reconsider the potential criteria for specialized international ABS instruments in the context of Article 4, paragraph 4, of the Nagoya Protocol in light of a recommendation by the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation.

Item 16. Global multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism (Article 10)

Background: The Executive Secretary was requested to commission a peer reviewed study to identify specific cases of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources that occur in transboundary situations or for which it is not possible to grant or obtain prior informed consent and to synthesize information submitted by Parties and others on information on specific cases accompanied by an explanation as to why such cases cannot be covered under the bilateral approach set out in the Nagoya Protocol for their consideration by the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation. At its fourth meeting, COP-MOP will be invited to consider the outcomes of the deliberations by SBI-3.