Seventeenth SBSTTA Meeting Enters Final Day of Panel Discussions, With Drafting of "Conclusions" to Begin Thursday

As the seventeenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) continues in Montreal, Parties and Observers continue to address the Strategic Goals and Aichi Targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The meeting is being conducted with a combination of short speeches by members of panels who are selected based on their expertise in the Strategic Goal being addressed, followed by interventions on the part of Parties and Observers. This format means that some interventions with regard to a specific Strategic Goal are not able to be heard during the plenary and are pushed to the following day. On Thursday, 17 October, the agenda calls for the drafting of "conclusions and recommendations for further work." (Agenda link here.)

Thus far, Natural Justice has been involved in the SBSTTA meeting in several ways. On Monday, Eli Makagon spoke at a side event held by the CBD Alliance regarding a proposed ABS regulation to implement the Nagoya Protocol in the European Union (EU) currently pending before the European Council (for further information, see links on this page). On Tuesday, 15 October, Eli, with the assistance of Nele Marien, coordinator of the CBD Alliance, briefed delegates from the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) on the EU's proposed regulation, noting that it severely limits the Nagoya Protocol's scope by limiting its application to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge accessed after the Nagoya Protocol enters into force for the EU. On Wednesday, 16 October, Natural Justice and the Global Forest Coalition will co-host, along with the ICCA Consortium, a side event on meeting the Aichi Targets. In addition, Natural Justice will be attending several other side events as well as the ongoing plenary sessions. For more immediate updates and further information on the meeting, check out Natural Justice's Twitter feed online at https://twitter.com/naturaljustice.