From 6-10 June in Montreal, Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) participated in the First Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ICNP-1) under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Kabir was involved in the negotiations of the ICNP in his capacity as the legal advisor to the African Group of Countries. Over the 5 days, the ICNP focused on the modalities of establishing a Clearing House Mechanism for the Nagoya Protocol, issues relating to capacity development and awareness raising, and measures to ensure compliance of parties to the Nagoya Protocol. The ICNP recommended that the Secretariat of the CBD begin the pilot phase of implementation of the Clearing House Mechanism soon and report to the 2nd meeting of the ICNP on the progress that has been made. The ICNP also recommended a meeting of experts on ‘compliance procedures’ in the intercessional period before the second meeting of the ICNP.
The second meeting of the ICNP will focus on, among other things, agreeing on a compliance mechanism under the Nagoya Protocol to ensure that Parties fulfill their obligations to the Protocol. This meeting will be held in Delhi, India, in April 2012 and the First Meeting of Parties to the Nagoya Protocol will be held in Hyderabad, India, in October 2012.
