Notification 2010-090

Dear Madam/Sir, I am pleased to confirm that, with the generous financial support of the Government of Japan, the resumed ninth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (WG ABS 9) will be held at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, on 10-16 July 2010. The provisional agenda of the meeting is attached for your information and is available on the CBD website at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=ABSWG-09-2ND . Other documents for the meeting as well as the information note for participants will be made available as soon as practicable on the website of the Convention at the same address. The meeting will be held over seven consecutive days and will be preceded by two days of regional and interregional consultations, on 8-9 July 2010. In addition, as for previous meetings, Mr. Fernando Casas of Colombia and Mr. Timothy Hodges of Canada, the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing, will be holding open-ended informal consultations, as well as bilateral consultations, with interested delegates on 8-9 July 2010. Further information regarding the time and exact venue of these consultations will be communicated in due course. In view of your interest in the issues addressed by the Working Group, I have the honour of inviting your indigenous and local community organization to nominate a representative to attend. Designation of representatives, containing their name and contact details, should be submitted through official letters to be addressed to the Executive Secretary of the Secretariat by fax to +1 514 288 6588, or by email as a scanned attachment to: secretariat@cbd.int, as soon as possible but no later than 28 May 2010. Indigenous and local communities representatives wishing to receive funding from the Voluntary Trust Fund to facilitate their participation in the above-mentioned meeting, in accordance with decision VIII/5 D on the Voluntary Funding Mechanism to facilitate the participation of indigenous and local communities in the work of the Convention, are invited to submit their application forms no later than 21 May, 2010. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. The Voluntary Trust Fund application forms are available in the six official languages of the United Nations on the CBD website at the following link: http://www.cbd.int/traditional/fund.shtml. The completed application forms should be sent to the Secretariat either by fax to: +1 514 288 6588, or by electronic mail as a scanned attachment to: secretariat@cbd.int, together with a recent Curriculum Vitae and an official letter of recommendation from the relevant organization addressed to the Executive Secretary of the CBD. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: Indigenous and Local Community Representatives