The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,
Recalling paragraph 9 of decision BS-III/11, in which Parties agreed to consider, at the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the need for further guidance on specific aspects of risk assessment and risk management, and the appropriate modalities for development of any such guidance such as a further meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment and Risk Management,
1.Takes note of the report of the Norway-Canada Workshop on Risk Assessment for Emerging Applications of Living Modified Organisms, and expresses its gratitude to the Governments of Norway and Canada for organizing this workshop;
2.Takes note of the conclusions and recommendations in the reports of the regional and subregional workshops on capacity-building and exchange of experiences on risk assessment and risk management of living modified organisms regarding the need to develop additional guidance on specific aspects of risk assessment;
3.Decides to establish through the Biosafety Clearing-House an open-ended online forum on specific aspects on risk assessment as referenced to in the annex;
4.Decides to establish an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment and Risk Management according to the modality of work and the terms of reference annexed hereto;
5.Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to submit to the Executive Secretary, prior to the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group, information relevant to the work of the Group, particularly on existing guidance documents on risk assessment;
(a)Convene ad hoc discussion groups and at least one real-time online conference per region prior to each of the meetings of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group, with the view to identifying major issues related to specific aspects of risk assessment and risk management as referenced to in the annex;
(b)Convene, prior to the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, and subject to the necessary financial resources being made available, two meetings of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment and Risk Management;
7.Urges Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to make funds available to the Executive Secretary for the organization of the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group, prior to the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol;
II. - Collaboration in identifying living modified organisms that may have an adverse effect on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health
Recalling the provisions of the medium-term programme of work, decision BS-I/12 paragraph 4 (b) (iii), on cooperation in identifying living modified organisms or specific traits that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health, and taking appropriate measures regarding the treatment of such living modified organisms or specific traits,
8.Requests Parties and invites other Governments and relevant organizations to submit to the Executive Secretary, not later than three months prior to the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group, scientifically sound information available at that time, on the identification of living modified organisms or specific traits that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health;
9.Requests the Executive Secretary to compile the information received and to prepare a synthesis report for consideration by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group and the Parties;
Recalling that risk assessment and other scientific and technical expertise are indicated as key elements requiring concrete action in the updated Action Plan for Building Capacities for the Effective Implementation of the Biosafety Protocol,
10.Welcomes the reports of the regional and subregional workshops on capacity-building and exchange of experiences on risk assessment and risk management of living modified organisms that were held in Barbados, Ethiopia, Malaysia and the Republic of Moldova;
11.Expresses its gratitude to the Governments of Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland for their financial contributions and the hosting Governments and the African Union for their organizational support;
12.Requests the Executive Secretary to convene, in cooperation with relevant regional organizations, at the earliest convenient date and subject to the availability of financial resources, a sub-regional workshop on capacity-building and exchange of experiences on risk assessment and risk management of living modified organisms in the Pacific subregion;
13.Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to availability of funds, to coordinate and facilitate, along with other relevant United Nations bodies and other international organizations, the development of training on risk assessment and risk management in relation to living modified organisms, and to convene prior to the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties, regional or subregional training courses to enable countries to gain hands-on experience in preparing and evaluating risk assessment reports in accordance to the articles and Annex III of the Protocol.
(b)Developing skills in using and interpreting existing information, as well as identifying and addressing information gaps; and
15.Calls upon Parties, other Governments and relevant donor organizations to make funds available to the Secretariat to support the training activities referred to in the above paragraphs.