The Preparatory Commission (PrepCom) for the new Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) is tasked with laying out the institutional structure and rules of procedure for the new Agreement. One challenge in this regard is the fact that many questions are interrelated. For example, questions on financial arrangements, including in relation to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and auditing rules, depend on whether the secretariat of the Agreement is set up as a standalone institution or is linked to an existing UN organization. As such, Monday’s discussions highlighted the challenge of crafting an agenda that disaggregates the issues enough to foster efficient progress in negotiations.
The PrepCom Co-Chairs nevertheless shared the good news that discussions on various issues are well underway, with convergence emerging on a number of matters. Considering progress made, they highlighted that there might not be a need for parallel sessions during the second week. This is especially welcome news, as interpretation is available for only one session at a time.
In the morning, delegates considered arrangements with the GEF, with two key issues emerging: whether and how to define a procedure for addressing disagreements with regard to GEF decisions; and the procedure and timing for agreeing to the Memorandum of Understanding between the GEF and the Conference of the Parties (COP). The GEF itself highlighted efforts to ensure compliance with the guidance by and decisions of the COP. The GEF also noted that, in the case of the Minamata Convention, the MoU was prepared by the International Negotiation Committee and submitted to the GEF Council in time for it to be adopted at COP 1.
In the afternoon, delegates discussed, among other matters:
- the size and composition of the COP bureau, with various proposals emerging for how many seats are to be allocated to each regional group and possible additional seats for small island developing states and least developed countries, respectively;
- the level of autonomy of subsidiary bodies, both with regard to collaboration among subsidiary bodies and their coordination with other international frameworks and bodies; and
- procedures for decision making, especially with regard to exhausting efforts to reach consensus and provisions for voting, including the potential for proxy voting, the voting rights of regional economic integration organizations, and considerations related to quorum.
On Tuesday, delegates will begin to discuss modalities for the operation of the Clearing-House Mechanism.
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All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For this meeting, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB.