Decision COP VII/34

1.  Welcomes the annual contribution of US $1,000,000 from the host country Canada and the Province of Quebec to the operation of the Secretariat, of which $835,000 has been allocated per annum to offset contributions from the Parties to the Convention for the biennium 2005-2006;

2. Approves a core (BY) programme budget of US $10,497,800 for the year 2005 and of US $10,918,500 for the year 2006, for the purposes listed in the table 1 below;

3. Adopts the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses for 2005 and 2006 as contained in the table 5 below;

4. Approves a Secretariat staffing table for the programme budget contained in table 2 below, and requests that all staff positions be filled expeditiously;

5.Notes the recommendation of the Bureau of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to reappoint the current Executive Secretary.  The Conference of the Parties further invites the President of the Conference of the Parties to consult with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and liaise with the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on future appointments;

6.  Decides to set the working capital reserve  / at a level of 5 per cent of the core budget (BY Trust Fund) expenditure, including programme support costs;

7. Approves a drawing of US $4 million from the unspent balances or contributions ("carry-over") from previous financial periods to cover part of the 2005-2006 budget;

8. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to transfer resources among the programmes between each of the main appropriation lines set out in the table 1 below up to an aggregate of 15 per cent of the total programme budget, provided that a further limitation of up to a maximum of 25 per cent of each such appropriation line shall apply. This authority to transfer shall not be applicable to transfers to/from the appropriation line “shared costs”;

 9. Notes with appreciation the work of the Executive Secretary to identify categories of costs in the budget documents prepared for the consideration of the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties and requests the Executive Secretary to further define their nature and scope; 

10. Calls upon the Executive Secretary to present to the eighth Conference of the Parties the results of further work to develop a secretariat-wide modality and tracking system for differentiating the costs for the secretariat and other services, identified as “shared” in table 1 below, between those that are common to the Convention and its Cartagena Protocol, which are borne by Parties to the Convention, and those that are distinct to each instrument, and invites Parties to provide the Secretariat with their views in this regard, and further invites the Executive Secretary to share the outcomes of this work with Parties to the Cartagena Protocol;

11. Directs the Executive Secretary, in presenting the proposed budget for the biennium 2007-2008 to the eighth Conference of the Parties, to use the modality and tracking mechanism, developed in paragraph 9 above, to apportion the line identified as “shared” in table 1 below to either the common costs to be borne by the Parties to the Convention or to costs that are distinct to each instrument;

12.   Notes the need for the development of safeguards for the use and or distribution of common resources for secretariat and other services between the Convention and its Cartagena Protocol and calls on the Executive Secretary to make proposals for such safeguards within the Convention budget for the consideration of the eighth Conference of the Parties;

13. Notes with concern that a number of Parties have not paid their contributions to the core budget (BY Trust Fund) for 2004 and prior years, which are due on 1 January of each year in accordance with paragraph 4 of the financial rules, and the late payment of contributions to the core budget by Parties during each calendar year of a biennium has contributed to the significant carry-over from one biennium to the next, and, in the event that there is no improvement in the payment of contributions by Parties, invites the Executive Secretary to submit proposals for promoting full and timely payment of contributions by Parties for consideration and review by the Conference of the Parties at its eighth meeting; 

14. Urges Parties that have still not paid their contributions to the core budget (BY Trust Fund) to do so without delay, and requests the Executive Secretary to publish and regularly update information on the status of contributions of Parties to the Convention’s trust funds (BY, BE, BZ);

16. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into arrangements with any Party whose contributions are in arrears for two or more years to mutually agree on a “schedule of payments” for such a Party, to clear all outstanding arrears, within six years depending on the financial circumstance of the Party in arrears and pay future contributions by the due date, and report on the implementation of any such arrangement to the next meeting of the Bureau and to the Conference of the Parties;

17. Decides that a Party with an agreed arrangement in accordance with paragraph 16 above and that is fully respecting the provisions of that arrangement will not be subject to the provisions of paragraph 15 above;

18. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into commitments up to the level of the approved budget, drawing on available cash resources, including unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income;

19. Decides to fund, upon request, from the core budget (BY) the participation of members of the bureaux of the Conference of the Parties and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice at the inter-sessional meetings of the respective bureaux;

20. Decides that the trust funds (BY, BE, BZ) for the Convention shall be extended for the period of two years, beginning 1 January 2006 and ending 31 December 2007;

21. Invites all Parties to the Convention to note that contributions to the core budget (BY) are due on 1 January of the year in which these contributions have been budgeted for, and to pay them promptly, and urges Parties, in a position to do so, to pay by 1 October 2004 for the calendar year 2005 and by 1 October 2005 for the calendar year 2006 the contributions required to finance expenditures approved under paragraph 2 above, as offset by amounts in paragraphs 1 and 7, and, in this regard, requests that Parties be notified of the amount of their contributions by 1 August of the year preceding the year in which the contributions are due;

22. Urges all Parties and States not Parties to the Convention, as well as governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other sources, to contribute to the trust funds of the Convention and the Cartagena Protocol;

24. Endorses the decisions of the Bureau of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties authorizing the Executive Secretary to utilize savings, unspent balances from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income in the amount of US$ 2,436,000 from the BY Trust Fund, of which US$ 878,259 was spent, to fund inter-sessional activities, which were not envisaged and therefore for which no budgetary allocations were approved by the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting, including the participation of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition, in the meetings of the Convention as well as to carry out activities approved by the Conference of the Parties and requests the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Bureau, to continue to monitor the availability of voluntary contributions to the BE and BZ Trust Funds in the event of any shortfalls;

25. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to draw, in consultation with the bureau of the Conference of the Parties, on available cash resources, including unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income within the approved core budget (BY Trust Fund) for the biennium 2005-2006, to cover any shortfalls in the special voluntary Trust Fund (BZ) for facilitating participation of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and the small island developing States among them, and Parties with economies in transition, for the biennium 2005-2006, in priorities identified in the core budget (BY Trust Fund); 

26. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to consult with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties on any adjustments which may be necessary in the servicing of the programme of the work as foreseen in the core budget (BY Trust Fund) for the biennium 2005-2006, including the postponement of meetings, in the event that sufficient resources are not available to the Secretariat in a timely fashion from the approved budget (BY Trust Fund), including available cash resources, unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income; 

27.  Requests the Executive Secretary, in accordance with rule 14 of the rules of procedure, to provide Parties with an indication of the administrative and financial implications of decisions to be referred by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice; an ad hoc open-ended working group; or an ad hoc technical expert group for adoption by the Conference of the Parties, that may have administrative and budgetary implications that cannot be met from existing resources within the core budget (BY Trust Fund);

28. Requests the Executive Secretary to prepare and submit a budget, taking fully into account paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 above, for the programme of work for the biennium 2007-2008 for the consideration of the Conference of the Parties at its eighth meeting, and to report on income and budget performance as well as any adjustments made to the Convention budget for the biennium 2005-2006;

29. Welcomes the development and continuation of the fellowship programme as a means of enabling developing country Parties and countries with economies in transition to send their nationals to the Secretariat for the purposes of enhancing their understanding of the Convention and for increasing awareness of biodiversity and related issues;

30. Notes that the Junior Professional Officer programme and the internship programme afford an opportunity for Parties to learn about and further develop an understanding of the thematic or cross-cutting issues covered under the Convention;