Summary
On Friday morning, the Working Group addressed the full package of measures arising from its deliberations to be presented at the seventh meeting of the Treaty’s Governing Body (GB 7), including: progress towards developing a draft revised Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) aiming to increase payments to the Benefit-Sharing Fund; the modalities of a potential expansion of the coverage of the Multilateral System and links with the benefit-sharing arrangements; definitional issues on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; and the launch mechanism, including interim measures and alternatives.
All regions welcomed an offer by Switzerland to host an informal meeting, to allow for further deliberations. Participants also discussed holding a one-day meeting of the Working Group, immediately prior to GB 7, to be held in October/November 2017, in Rwanda.
On Friday afternoon, the Working Group adopted its report, including a draft SMTA as revised during the proceedings. Co-Chair Visser opined that the pace of negotiations should increase, highlighting that countries and stakeholders might lose interest in the process. Co-Chair Mozafari stressed that the agricultural community needs this agreement, and after brief closing statements, closed the meeting at 4:50 pm.
The Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of the meeting will be available online on Monday, 20 March 2017, at: http://enb.iisd.org/biodiv/itpgrfa/owg-efmls-6/
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided digital coverage and a summary and analysis report from OWG-EFMLS-6, which is available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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Bert Visser, Working Group Co-Chair and Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary Ad-Interim
Álvaro Toledo and Tobias Kiene, ITPGRFA Secretariat
François Meienberg and Edward Hammond, Civil Society
Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair, with Ali Chehade, Near East Region
Felicitas Katepa-Mupondwa, North America Region
Alwin Kopse, European Region
Svanhild-Isabelle Batta Torheim, European Region
Bert Visser, Working Group Co-Chair, with Modesto Fernández, Cuba
José Francisco Montenegro Valls, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, with Carlos Correa, University of Buenos Aires
Thomas Meier, European Region
Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary Ad-Interim
Catherine Karr-Colque, North America Region
Bert Visser, Working Group Co-Chair
César Tapia Bastidas, Latin America and the Caribbean Region
Pierre du Plessis, Africa Region
François Meienberg, Civil Society
Cheikh Alassane Fall, Africa Region
Paul Olson, Seed Industry
Patricia Larbouret, European Region
From L-R: Tobias Kiene, ITPGRFA Secretariat; Álvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat; and Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair
Anke van den Hurk, Seed Industry
Tamira Ford, South West Pacific Region
Kathryn Garforth, CBD Secretariat
UN Women's Guild of Rome Photo Exhibition in Celebration of International Women's Day
