Decision COP IX/12

The Conference of the Parties,

Recalling its decisions VII/19 D and VIII/4 A-E on access and benefit-sharing,

Recalling also its decision VIII/5 C on collaboration and contribution of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Article 8(j) and related provisions to the fulfilment of the mandate of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit‑sharing,

Further recalling that the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising out of their Utilization are making a contribution to the development of national legislation,

Recalling paragraph 44(o) of the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which calls for action to “negotiate within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, bearing in mind the Bonn Guidelines, an international regime to promote and safeguard the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources”,

Having considered the reports of the fifth and sixth meetings of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (UNEP/CBD/COP/9/5 and 6), which were held, respectively, in Montreal from 8 to 12 October 2007, and in Geneva from 21 to 25 January 2008,

Acknowledging the importance of awareness-raising to increased understanding of access and benefit‑sharing in light of the ongoing elaboration and negotiation of the international regime,

Recognizing the potential role of the United Nations Environment Programme, Parties, Governments and other relevant international organizations in further contributing to awareness-raising and in capacity-development,

Taking note of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the General Assembly 13 September 2007,

Acknowledging the potential role of the clearing‑house mechanism of the Convention as a tool to facilitate the dissemination and exchange of information on access to genetic resources and benefit‑sharing,

Welcoming the agreements and other work relating to access to genetic resources and sharing the benefits arising out of their utilisation in various forums, and in particular the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the multi-year programme of work of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,

Recognizing the importance of the participation of indigenous and local communities in the elaboration and negotiation of the international regime on access and benefit‑sharing,

1. Welcomes the progress made in the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing and decides that annex I to the present decision shall be the basis for further elaboration and negotiation of the international regime;

2. Reiterates its instruction to the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing to complete the elaboration and negotiation of the international access and benefit-sharing regime at the earliest possible time before the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, in accordance with decision VII/19 D and decision VIII/4 A;

3. Further instructs the Working Group to finalize the international regime and to submit for consideration and adoption by the Conference of the Parties at its tenth meeting an instrument/instruments to effectively implement the provisions in Article 15 and Article 8(j) of the Convention and its three objectives, without in any way prejudging or precluding any outcome regarding the nature of such instrument/instruments; 

4. Welcomes the outcome of the meeting of the Group of Technical Experts on an Internationally Recognized Certificate of Origin/Source/Legal Provenance, held in Lima in January 2007 (UNEP/CBD/WG-ABS/5/7, annex), as a relevant contribution to the work of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit‑sharing;

5. Decides that the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing should meet three times prior to the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The meetings should be preceded by two days of regional and interregional consultations; 

6. Also decides that the meetings of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing should be convened in the first quarter of 2009, the third quarter of 2009 and by the second quarter of 2010 bearing in mind the requirements of Article 28 of the Convention;

7. Further decides that, subject to the availability of funds, each of these Working Group meetings will be held over the duration of seven consecutive days and that the purpose of these Working Group meetings will be as follows unless otherwise proposed by the Parties at the meeting and decided by the Bureau in consultation with the Co-Chairs:

8. Further instructs the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing, after the negotiation of comprehensive operational text at its seventh meeting, to start its eighth meeting by negotiating on nature, followed by clearly identifying the components of the international regime that should be addressed through legally binding measures, non-legally binding measures or a mix of the two and to draft these provisions accordingly;

9. Invites Parties, other Governments, international organizations and indigenous and local communities, and relevant stakeholders to submit, for further elaboration and negotiation of the international regime on access and benefit-sharing, views and proposals including operational text, where relevant, in respect of the main components listed in the annex I to the present decision, preferably with supporting rationale;

10. Requests the Executive Secretary to compile the submissions received and to collate in three separate documents:

11. Decides to establish three distinct groups of technical and legal experts on: (i) compliance; (ii) concepts, terms, working definitions and sectoral approaches; and (iii) traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.  The terms of reference of the groups, including the criteria for the selection of experts are laid out in annex II to the present decision; 

12. Requests the Executive Secretary to recommend the list of selected experts and observers for the approval of the Bureau;

13. Requests the Executive Secretary to commission studies on the following topics:

14. Requests the Executive Secretary to invite, in consultation with the Co-Chairs of the Working Group, relevant experts to address the Working Group on Access and Benefit‑sharing, at the appropriate time, on the following issues:

15. Invites Parties, Governments, international organizations, indigenous and local communities and relevant stakeholders to provide information and views related to the issues to be addressed by each expert group, six weeks prior to the convening of each expert group;

16. Requests the Executive Secretary to convene the group of experts on compliance and on concepts, terms, working definitions and sectoral approaches so that the results are available in time for consideration in time for the seventh meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing and to convene the expert group on traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources so that its results are available in time for consideration by the eighth meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing;

17. Emphasizes the importance of consultations to advance the negotiations and requests the Co-Chairs of the Working Group on Access and Benefit‑sharing to be instrumental in organizing and facilitating such consultations during the intersessional period and report on the outcome of such consultations at subsequent meetings of the Working Group on Access and Benefit‑sharing; encourages Parties and stakeholders to carry out bilateral, regional, and interregional meetings and consultations; and calls upon donors and relevant organizations to provide financial resources necessary for such meetings and consultations;

18. Encourages Parties, other Governments, international organizations and all relevant stakeholders to provide the ways and means to allow for sufficient preparation and to facilitate effective participation of indigenous and local communities in the process of the negotiation and elaboration of the international regime, in accordance with decision VIII/5 C;

19. Invites Parties, donors and other interested bodies to financially support indigenous and local communities to hold national and regional workshops the outcomes of which could feed into the groups of experts related to compliance and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources as well as into other aspects of the work of Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing;

20. Requests that the Ad Hoc Open-ended Intersessional Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions continues to collaborate and contribute to the fulfilment of the mandate of the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing by providing detailed and focused views on the outcome of the technical expert groups on traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources and compliance as input to the work of the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing, and to this end, requests the Executive Secretary to make the reports of these groups available to the Working Group on Article 8(j) at least three months prior to its sixth meeting;

21. Invites the Global Environment Facility to strengthen the efforts to implement its strategic programme on capacity‑building for access and benefit‑sharing in order to enable Parties to elaborate, negotiate and implement the international regime, mobilizing available resources of the fourth replenishment and to provide appropriate resources in its fifth replenishment, and urges Parties to make full use of the programmes of the Global Environment Facility, including for the full implementation of the articles of the Convention related to access and benefit-sharing;

22. Invites the United Nations Environment Programme, Governments and relevant intergovernmental organizations, in close consultation with the Secretariat, to support or continue supporting and facilitating, as appropriate, regional and interregional consultations, to carry out capacity‑development activities related to access and benefit-sharing and to contribute to raising awareness to the issue of access and benefit-sharing among decision makers, indigenous and local communities, and other relevant stakeholders, and encourage countries to include activities related to access and benefit‑sharing among the priorities for external funding;

23. Invites Parties to make optimal use of the access and benefit-sharing component of the clearing‑house mechanism of the Convention in order to facilitate the exchange of information related to access and benefit-sharing, including relevant literature, legislation, analytical studies, and case‑studies, and requests the Executive Secretary, and invites Parties, other Governments, and relevant organizations to take further measures to build the capacity of Parties for access to, and use of, the clearing-house mechanism.