Capacity Building Needs, Gaps and Priorities
Identifying the capacity-building needs and priorities of countries, as well as the gaps in ongoing initiatives is an important step in developing successful capacity-building activities.
The Protocol, in
Article 22, requires Parties when cooperating to build capacity in biosafety, to take into account the needs of developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition for financial resources and access to technology and know-how. In
Article 28, Parties are also required, in providing guidance with respect to the financial mechanism, to take into account the needs of those countries in their efforts to identify and implement their capacity-building requirements.
At its first meeting, the COP-MOP considered the
first synthesis report of the capacity-building needs and priorities of Parties and other Governments prepared by the Executive Secretary on the basis of the submissions made to the Secretariat. In its
decision BS-I/5, the COP-MOP requested Parties and other Governments to submit their capacity-building needs and priorities to the Biosafety Clearing-House and to periodically update their records. The submissions by countries are registered in the BCH
capacity needs database.
In the same decision, the COP-MOP requested the Executive Secretary to compile summary reports on the capacity needs and priorities for consideration by the COP-MOP at its regular meetings, and make them available to donor Governments and relevant organizations, as appropriate. The summary reports will be made available here as they are compiled.
In
decision BS-II/5, COP-MOP took note of the report on the needs and priorities of countries prepared by the Secretariat (
UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/2/INF/7) and requested the Executive Secretary to make it available to donor Governments and relevant organizations. These were invited to provide support to developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition to address their needs. COP-MOP encouraged countries to develop prioritized national strategies for capacity-building in biosafety and to promote regional and subregional initiatives and approaches to address common needs.
