CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Sixth meeting, The Hague, 7-19 April 2002 Elżbieta Martyniuk Decision VI/5 Agricultural.

CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL

DIVERSITY

Sixth meeting, The Hague, 7-19 April 2002

Elżbieta Martyniuk

Decision VI/5

Agricultural biological diversity

CBD Conference of the Parties decisionson agrobiodiversity

II/15 – recognition of specific features of agro-biodiversity, which require specific solutionsIII/11– major set of decisions on agrobiodiversity and agricultural practices;IV/6 – additional decisions (GURTs) and welcome of the ITWG-AnGRV/5 – adoption of the Programme of Work on Agrobiodiversity

International Initiative on Polllinators Gene use restriction technologies

and V/6 – Principles of Ecosystem Approach

Six elements of the Decision VI/5 :

• Implementation of the programme of work

• The International Pollinators Initiative

• Soil biodiversity

• Animal genetic resources

• Impacts of trade liberalization

• Impacts of the application of genetic use restriction technologies on smallholder farmers, indigenous and local communities and Farmers' Rights

Implementation of the programme of work

1. Notes the progress made in the implementation of the programme of work and the need for emphasis and further action, within the context of the programme of work, on: a. The wider understanding of the functions of biodiversity in agro-ecosystems, and the interactions between its various components, at different spatial scales;


b. The promotion of methods of sustainable agriculture that employ management practices, technologies and policies that promote the positive and prevent or mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity, focusing on the needs of farmers and indigenous and local communities, to participate efficiently in the process of meetings those particular goals; c. Capacity-building in institutions, human resource development, training, communication, education and public awareness. Moreover, funding for the implementation of the programme of work should be reviewed, in the context of decision V/5 of the Conference of the Parties; and d. Mainstreaming;


2. Adopts the steps for the further implementation of the programme of work by the Executive Secretary and partner organizations and the reporting schedule contained in annex I to the present decision;

3. Invites Parties, other Governments, and relevant organizations to

submit case-studies on their experiences with mainstreaming matters related to agricultural biodiversity in their plans, programmes and strategies, to be made available through the clearing-house mechanism;

4. Invites Parties and Governments to provide, thematic reports on the implementation of the programme of work on agricultural biodiversity, as part of the third national reports, prior to the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;


5. Requests the Executive Secretary to prepare a draft format for the thematic report on agricultural biodiversity, for consideration

by the Conference of the Parties at its seventh session;

6. Requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to prepare, in time for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its the eighth meeting, syntheses of relevant studies and an analysis of gaps and opportunities in the implementation of the programme of work, drawing upon the national thematic reports referred to in paragraph 4 above, as well as information provided by relevant organizations;


7. Continues to encourage Parties and Governments to support the application of the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity for observer status in the Committee on Agriculture of the World Trade Organization, in line with paragraph 9 of decision IV/6 and paragraph 14 of decision V/5, of the Conference of Parties;

The International Pollinators Initiative

8. Adopts, and decides to periodically review, as appropriate, the plan of action for the International Initiative for the Conservation and

Sustainable Use of Pollinators on the basis of annex II to the present recommendation;

9. Welcomes the leading role played by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in facilitating and coordinating this Initiative;

10. Welcomes efforts to establish the African Pollinators Initiative, in the framework of the International Pollinators Initiative;

The International Pollinators Initiative

11. Invites Parties and other Governments, and relevant organizations to contribute to the

implementation of the International Pollinators Initiative;

12. Invites Parties, other Governments, the financial mechanism and funding organizations to provide adequate and timely support to the implementation of the Plan of Action, especially by developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition, and in particular least developed countries and small island developing States; International Pollinators Initiative;

Soil Biodiversity

13. Decides to establish an International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity as a cross-cutting initiative within the programme of work on agricultural biodiversity, and invites the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and other relevant organizations, to facilitate and coordinate this initiative;

Animal Genetic Resources

14. Welcomes the process initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the preparation of the first Report on the State of World's Animal Genetic Resources, as a contribution to the Convention's programme of work on agricultural biodiversity, as adopted by decision V/5;

15. Encourages Parties to participate in the development of the first Report on the State of World's Animal Genetic Resources, in particular through the preparation of country reports;

Animal Genetic Resources

16. Invites Parties, other Governments, the financial mechanism and funding organizations to provide adequate and timely support to enable countries, especially developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition, and in particular least developed countries and small island developing States, to participate fully in the preparatory process for the first Report on the State of World's Animal Genetic Resources, and implement follow-up actions identified through the

process that will contribute to conservation sustainable use, access and benefit-sharing of animal genetic resources for food and agriculture;

Impacts of trade liberalization

17. Requests the Executive Secretary to study further the impacts of trade liberalization on agricultural biodiversity, in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and other relevant organizations;

Impacts of the application of genetic use restriction technologies on smallholder farmers, indigenous and local communities and Farmers' Rights

Recalling decision V/5 and, in particular, paragraphs 23, 24 and 27, Reaffirming decision V/5, paragraph 23, 18. Encourages Parties and other Governments to

address generic concerns regarding such technologies as genetic use restriction technologies

under international and national approaches to the safe and sustainable use of germplasm;


19. Urges Parties and other Governments to assess whether there is a need to develop, and how to

ensure the application of, effective regulations at national level which take into account, inter alia,

the specific nature of variety-specific and trait-specific genetic use restriction technologies, in order to ensure the safety of human health, the

environment, food security and the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity;

;


20. Acknowledges the need for additional research regarding the potential risks of specific genetic use restriction technologies;


21. Decides to establish an ad hoc technical expert group on genetic use restriction technologies to further analyse the potential impacts of genetic use restriction technologies on smallholder farmers, indigenous and local communities and on Farmers' Rights, taking into account relevant ongoing work, and, as far as possible, the outcome of the work described in paragraphs 23 and 24 below, as well as comments from Parties, international organizations, and smallholder farmers, indigenous and local communities in order to prepare advice for consideration at its seventh meeting. The ad hoc technical expert group will include experts from smallholder farmers and indigenous and local communities, and will report to both to the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions and the SBSTTA prior to the seventh meeting of the Conference of the

Parties;


22. Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to protect native species and associated traditional knowledge by paying a particular attention to smallholder farmers, indigenous and local communities and Farmers' Rights in their imlementation of the programme of work on agricultural biological diversity and the Global Strategy for lant Conservation, in order to promote the sustainable use and in situ development of genetic resources;


23. Also invites the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to study the potential impacts of the applications of genetic use restriction technologies in the framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and to consider genetic use restriction technologies in the further development of the Code of Conduct on Biotechnology as it relates to genetic resources for

food and agriculture;


24. Invites the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and other relevant organizations to examine, in the context of their work, the specific intellectual property implications of genetic use restriction technologies, particularly in respect of indigenous and local

communities; Requests the Executive Secretary:


a. To integrate the issues related to the impacts of genetic

use restriction technologies on smallholder farmers, indigenous and local communities and on Farmers' Rights in the work under the Convention regarding Article 8(j) and related provisions and Article 14,

paragraph 2, on liability and redress;


b. To invite the Food and Agriculture Organization of

theUnited Nations, in collaboration with other organizations to investigate the potential impacts of the applications of genetic use restriction technologies in

forestry, livestock, aquatic and other ecosystems, and to take into account the findings of the these organisations in the development of the relevant programmes of work; and


c. Given the distinct nature of genetic use restriction technologies and their potential impacts on indigenous and local communities, to invite relevant organizations to examine the applicability of existing, and to explore the need to develop new, legal mechanisms to address the application of genetic use restriction technologies.

Annex I

Table 1.

Steps for the further implementation of the programme Executive Secretary and partner organizations

( Planned and in progress activities within each Programme element )

Annex II

PLAN OF ACTION

FOR THE INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE

FOR

THE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF

POLLINATORS

CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL

DIVERSITY

Sixth meeting, The Hague, 7-19 April 2002

Decision VI/17

Financial resources and mechanism

Decides to provide the following additional guidance to the Global Environment Facility in the provision of financial resources, in accordance with Article 20 and Article 21, paragraph 1 of the Convention and in conformity with decisions I/2, II/6, III/5, IV/13 and V/13 of the Conference of the Parties.

h. To build capacity of developing country Parties, in particular least developed countries and small island developing States, to participate effectively in the preparatory process for the first Report on the State of World's Animal Genetic Resources;

THANK YOU

CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Sixth meeting, The Hague, 7-19 April 2002 Elżbieta Martyniuk Decision VI/5 Agricultural.

Documents

programme of work

parties implementation

agricultural biodiversity

mainstreaming implementation

functions of biodiversity

executive secretary

smallholder farmers

farmers rights