Highlights for Friday, 30 August 2019
Queen Angelfish from Belize, photo by Marcelo Halpern
The third session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) came to a close on Friday, August 30, 2019. During the day, delegates engaged in a comprehensive discussion on the way forward. Several delegations welcomed the new format of the meeting, notably the informal-informals, with many calling for regular report-backs to facilitate broad participation, especially for small delegations. On this note, there were calls from several developing countries for increased contributions to the Voluntary Trust Fund to facilitate their participation at the next meeting.In her closing remarks, IGC President Rena Lee (Singapore), called on delegates to study the proposals submitted during the intersessional period in order to make further progress at IGC-4. She noted that:
the revised negotiating text for IGC-4 will likely not include all the proposals submitted or discussed at IGC-3;
the advanced revised text, in English only, will be issued by the end of 2019; and
IGC-4 will feature more parallel sessions, and a number of stock-taking plenaries that will consider the four elements of the 2011 package as “more of a package.”
In the corridors, several delegates patted themselves on the back for having gone through the major elements of the draft text on the new High Seas treaty, but acknowledged that more needs to be done to address the pressing matters that have been raised in the negotiation process. Commenting on next steps, many delegates stressed that, for IGC-4, “the Facilitators will need to craft bridging language to close the gaps in this process.”
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from BBNJ IGC-3. The summary and analysis report is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Francis Dejon
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Informal Working Group
View of the informal working group session
L-R: IGC President Rena Lee, Singapore; Gabriele Goettsche-Wanli, Director, UN Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS); Alice Hicuburundi, UNDOALOS and Charlotte Salpin, UNDOALOS
Carl Grainger, Ireland, Chair of the Credentials Committee
Luis Ugarelli, Peru
Henry Suarez, Venezuela
Indira Guardia, Cuba
Alina Llano, Nicaragua
Gennady Kuzmin, Russian Federation
Janine Coye-Felson, Belize, Facilitator of the informal working group on marine genetic resources, including benefit-sharing
Olai Uludong, Palau, Facilitator of the informal working group on capacity building and the transfer of marine technology
René Lefeber, the Netherlands, Facilitator of the informal working group on environmental impact assessments
Alice Revell, New Zealand, Facilitator of the informal working group on area-based management tools, including marine protected areas
L-R: Gou Haibo, China; IGC President Rena Lee, Singapore; and Evan Bloom, US
L-R: Florian Botto, Monaco; Mamadou Diallo, Senegal; and Rishy Bukoree, Mauritius
Asela Peneueta, Tuvalu, on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum
Andreas Papaconstantinou, EU
Ali Nasimfar, Iran
Fuad Bateh, Palestine, on behalf of the G-77/China
Mehdi Remaoun, Algeria, on behalf of the African Group
Evan Bloom, US
Julio Arriola, Paraguay, on behalf of Land-Locked Developing Countries
Gou Haibo, China
Tilani Silva, Sri Lanka
Michael Kanu, Sierra Leone
Gabriele Goettsche-Wanli, Director, UNDOALOS
IGC President Rena Lee, Singapore
L-R: Miguel de Serpa Soares, Secretary-General of the IGC, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel, and IGC President Rena Lee, Singapore, gavelled the meeting to a close at 5:17 pm.
Participants from the High Seas Alliance
Delegates from the European Commission
Delegates from Australia
Delegates from the US
Delegates from the Pacific Islands Forum
Delegates from the Philippines
Delegates from the African Group
IGC President Rena Lee, Singapore, with delegates from the EU
Delegates from the Pacific Small Island Developing States
Delegates from Latin American countries
Delegates from China
Delegates from Seychelles
L-R: ENB BBNJ Team with Jennifer Bansard, Asterios Tsioumanis, Tasha Goldberg, Tallash Kantai, Katarina Hovden, and Franz Dejon