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Highlights and images for 22 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
The dais during plenary
The second meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP2) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury met on Thursday, 22 November 2018. Delegates heard reports from contact groups in the morning, and adopted the rules of procedure for the Implementation and Compliance Committee in a brief plenary. They then met in contact groups throughout the day to consider:
technical issues, including contaminated sites, interim storage, and harmonized customs codes;
effectiveness evaluation;
institutional issues pertaining to Secretariat arrangements; and
budget and programme of work.
A Friends of the President group on other outstanding issues also met during the day.In an evening plenary, the COP elected officers to the COP3 Bureau, and heard reports from contact groups.For more details on the day’s events and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from COP2.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Sean Wu
For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page
View of the plenary session
Silvija Kalniņš, Latvia
Nina Cromnier, Sweden
Anahit Aleksandryan, Armenia
Adly Manseri and Donatienne Monfort, Belgium
Alejandra Acosta, Ana Corallo, and María Florencia Grimalt, Argentina
Dhekra Charbi and Youssef Zidi, Tunisia
Havanaby Mahezanony and Hanitriniaina Liliane Randrianomenjanahary, Madagascar
Yingxian Xia, China, consulting with delegates from Nigeria, Mali and Gabon
Seref Yilmaz, Mahmut Osmanbasoglu, and Bursev Dogan Artukoglu, Turkey
Fidelice Mafumiko, Tanzania
Marc Chardonnens, President, COP2, speaking with Franz Perrez and Felix Wertli, Switzerland
Delegates during plenary
Fredrick Mupoti Sikabongo, Namibia
Margret Kaemba, Zambia
Mohammed Khashashneh, Jordan, elected to the COP3 Bureau
Contact Group on Technical Issues
View of the contact group
Karissa Kovner, US
Diego Henrique Costa Pereira, Brazil
The dais during the contact group
Contact Group on Effectiveness Evaluation
Contact Group Co-Chairs Karissa Kovner, US, and Kateřina Šebková, Czech Republic
Obed Meringo Baloyi, South Africa, and John Mumbo, Kenya
Christopher Allen, the EU
View of the contact group
Contact Group on Budget
Claudia ten Have, Minamata Convention Secretariat
Co-Chair Reginald Hernaus, the Netherlands
The dias during the contact group
Elisabeth Hosner, the EU
Hutta Emig, Germany, and Aneta Willems, the EU
Heidar Ali Balouji, Iran
Claire Gouvary, France
Contact Group on Institutional Issues
Room view during the contact group
Andrew Clark, US
Gwen Goodier, Canada
Around the Venue
Daily report for 22 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
Highlights and images for 21 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
COP 14 participants from civil society and indigenous and local communities paid tribute to environmental defenders who were killed since 2017
On Wednesday, Working Group I addressed several items, including:
enhancing integration under the Convention and its Protocols with respect to access and benefit-sharing (ABS);
compliance under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety;
cooperation with other organizations under the Convention and its Protocols;
review of effectiveness of processes under the Convention and its Protocols;
review of progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan;
assessment and review under the Nagoya Protocol; and
resource mobilization under the Convention.
Working Group II considered:
marine and coastal biodiversity;
invasive alien species;
liability and redress under the Convention;
health and biodiversity under the Convention; and
unintentional transboundary movements of living modified organisms under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
Contact groups on digital sequence information, synthetic biology, and the process for the post-2020 framework met throughout the day.For more details on the day’s events and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis from the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon
For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page
Clare Hamilton, Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
Neil Pratt, CBD Secretariat
Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, CBD Secretariat
Hayo Haanstra (the Netherlands), Chair of Working Group I
Prudence Tangham Galega, Cameroon
Somaly Chan, Cambodia
L-R: Aldo Claure and Teresa Perez, Bolivia
Teona Karchava, Georgia
Sri Ratnaningsih, Indonesia
Jerome Smith, Jamaica
Marco Rebelo, Portugal
Coumba Toure Kane, ISAAA
Soseala Tinilau, Tuvalu
Jorge Ernesto Quezada Diaz, El Salvador
Arun Kumar Mehta, India
L-R: Anne Theo Seinen and Tone Smith Spash, EU
L-R: Clare Hamilton, Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, with Christelle Van Wessenbeeck, Ines Verleye, and Kelly Hertweg, Belgium
Clarissa Nina (Brazil), Chair of Working Group II
Cristina Romanelli, CBD Secretariat
Alexander Shestakov, CBD Secretariat
L-R: Carlos Alberto Cueto Carrión, Peru; Georgina Catacora Vargas, Bolivia; and Edison Mayorga, Venezuela
Delegates in informal consultations
Georgina Catacora Vargas, Bolivia
Daniela Diz, WWF and TNC
Hesiquio Benitez Diaz, Mexico
Shirin Karryeva, Turkmenistan
Delegates in informal consultation on unintentional transboundary movements of living modified organisms
Lena Chan, Singapore
Anne Gabrielle Wüst Saucy, Switzerland
Adam van Opzeeland, New Zealand
Marie Haraldstad, Norway
Ricarda Steinbrecher, Federation of German Scientists
Volodymyr Domashlinets, Ukraine
José Luis Echeverría Tello, Guatemala
L-R: Mostafa Madbouhi and Larbi Sbai, Morocco
L-R: Mohamed Ali Ben Temessek, Tunisia, with Nabil Hamada, Sahara and Sahel Observatory
Participants from the Indigenous Women's Network on Biodiversity
Delegates from Honduras, Ecuador, Paraguay and Dominican Republic
Celebration of the entry into force of the Supplementary Protocol on liability and redress to the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety
Daily report for 21 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Report of main proceedings for 21 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
Highlights and images for 20 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Indigenous photo exhibit at COP 14
On Tuesday, Working Group I discussed a series of items on information sharing, national reporting, and assessment and review, under the Convention and its Protocols, including:
• knowledge management and communication under the Convention;
• operations and activities of the Biosafety Clearing-House;
• access and benefit-sharing (ABS) Clearing-House and information sharing under the Nagoya Protocol;
• mechanisms for national reporting, and assessment and review under the Convention;
• monitoring and reporting, and assessment and review under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; and
• monitoring and reporting under the Nagoya Protocol on ABS.WG II addressed:
• sustainable wildlife management;
• conservation and sustainable use of pollinators;
• Article 8(j) (traditional knowledge);
• biodiversity and climate change.
• enhancing integration under the Convention and its Protocols with respect to provisions related to ABS, biosafety, and Article 8(j);
• the second work programme of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES);
• spatial planning, protected areas, and other effective area-based conservation measures; and
• marine and coastal biodiversity.In the afternoon and evening, plenary held an interactive dialogue on approaches to living in harmony with nature; and addressed preparations for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.A contact group on socio-economic considerations under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety met in the evening.For more details on the day’s events and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis from the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon
For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page
Hayo Haanstra (the Netherlands), Chair of Working Group I
Kata Koppel, CBD Secretariat
Manoela Pessoa de Miranda, CBD Secretariat
L-R: David Ainsworth, Kata Koppel and Erie Tamale, CBD Secretariat
Norsham Abdul Latip, Malaysia
Joseph Masinde, Kenya
L-R: Anne Teller and Tone Smith Spash, EU
Leslie Melissa Ojeda Cabrera, Guatemala
Raja Rymbai, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB)
Lavinia Mbongo, Namibia
Daniel Wai-Poi, New Zealand
Dubravka Stepic, Croatia
Augustin Kone, Côte d'Ivoire
Wadzi Mandivenyi, South Africa
Sandagdorj Bayarkhuu, Mongolia
L-R: Sorin Ivan, Andrei Petica, and Madalin Blidaru, Romania
L-R: Alexander Shestakov, CBD Secretariat; Clarissa Nina, (Brazil), Chair of Working Group II; and Sarat Babu Gidda, CBD Secretariat
Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
L-R: Roosa Atula and Marjukka Mähönen, Finland
Mercy Munyadzwe, Botswana
Senka Barudanovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mitzi Gurgel Valente da Costa, Brazil
Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez, the Philippines
L-R: Agung Nugroho and Des Alwi, Indonesia
Pedro Ivo Arriegas, Portugal
Fiona Cumming, New Zealand
Melissa Laverde, Colombia
Jean-François Gobeil, Canada
Christine von Weizsäcker, ECOROPA
Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Ghana
Andri Wahyono, Indonesia
Nahla Adel Noobi, United Arab Emirates
Gwen Sisior, Palau
Glenn Litsios, Switzerland
Günter Mitlacher, WWF
L-R: David Cooper, CBD Deputy Executive Secretary; COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt; and Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary
David Monacchi, Fragments of Extinction
Eco-acoustic analysis of a rain forest
Paul Leadley, University of Paris-South
Josefa Cariño-Tauli, Global Youth Biodiversity Network
Halldor Thorgeirsson, former member of the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Fuwen Wei, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Delegates from Burkina Faso
Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez and Tony La Viña, the Philippines, posing with the panda from WWF
L-R: Raed Bani Hani, Jordan, with Amr Abdel-Meguid, Khaled Allam Harhash, and Mohamed Aljilani, Egypt
Participants from the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity
L-R: Amir Soliman, Egypt; Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Ghana; Keiichi Nakazawa, Japan; and Hamdallah Zedan, Egypt
Clearing-house Mechanism booth
Daily report for 20 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Highlights and images for 20 November 2018
2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2)
Delegates conferring with Iran regarding the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the GEF
The second meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP2) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury met for a second day on Tuesday, 20 November 2018. Delegates met in plenary and in contact groups, and discussed:
technical matters, specifically mercury waste, interim storage, releases and contaminated sites;
institutional issues regarding the secretariat;
budget and programme of work;
effectiveness evaluation;
open burning; and
financial rules.
For more details on the day’s events and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from COP2.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Sean Wu
For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page
The dais during the morning plenary
Reginald Hernaus, the Netherlands
Silvija Kalniņš, Latvia
Delegates from Luxembourg
Delegates from Mexico
Karel Blaha, Czech Republic
Charles Kanu Ikeah, Nigeria
Susanna Tiansuwan, Thailand
President of COP2, Marc Chardonnens, Switzerland
Michael Bender, Zero Mercury Working Group
Fiasosoitamalii Siaosi, Samoa
Delegates during plenary
The dais in informal discussions
Imelda Dossou Etui, UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and Toī Pagnibam Meba, Togo
Dhammika Kumari Wijaysinghe, Sri Lanka
Helga Schrott, the EU
Paul Almodóvar, US
Heidar Ali Balouji, Iran
Eyad Ibrahim, Syria
Michel Tschirren, Switzerland
The dais during the afternoon plenary
Enrique Moret Hernández, Cuba
Vladimir Lenev, Russian Federation
Mohamed Elmi Obsieh, Djibouti
Francis Kihumba, Kenya
Nigeria delegation
Franz Perrez, Switzerland, consulting with US and the EU
Contact Groups
Contact Group on Budget
Contact Group on Institutional Issues
Contact Group on Technical Issues Including Waste
Around the Venue
Daily report for 19 November 2018
2018 UN Biodiversity Conference
Daily report for 19 November 2018
Rio Conventions Pavilion at CBD COP 14