Notification 2006-040

Dear Madam/Sir, In decision VII/19F, the Conference of the Parties adopted the Action Plan on Capacity-building for access and benefit-sharing and invited Parties to use the Action Plan when designing and implementing national, regional and subregional plans and strategies to build capacities for access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources and related traditional knowledge. In paragraph 5, Parties are also requested to make information available through the clearing-house mechanism and to include information in national reports regarding their implementation of capacity-building measures on access to genetic resources and related traditional knowledge, and benefit-sharing. The Executive Secretary is requested to facilitate, including through the clearing-house mechanism, the sharing of relevant information among donor Parties and organizations to assist coordination, reduce duplication and identify gaps relevant to the implementation of the Action Plan. The Action Plan recognizes that, in view of the multiplicity of actors undertaking capacity-building initiatives for access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing, mutual information-sharing and coordination at all levels should be promoted to encourage synergies and to identify gaps in coverage. The database set up by the Executive Secretary includes information on various ongoing capacity-building projects related to access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing and is available at the following address: http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/socio-eco/benefit/projects.aspx. Parties are invited to make available any new information regarding capacity-building projects as soon as possible but no later than 31 December 2006 by filling out the data entry form in Annex 1. Information regarding future projects should also be provided to the Secretariat as it becomes available. Please note that in order to facilitate preparatory work all submissions should be provided in Word format. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points and ABS National Focal Points