About this Forum

At its fourth meeting, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (COP-MOP), in its decision BS-IV/11, established an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) on Risk Assessment and Risk Management and an open-ended online forum on specific aspects on risk assessment through the Biosafety Clearing-House in accordance with the terms of reference annexed to that decision.

To implement the various elements of the decision, the Secretariat, in consultation with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, established a continuous process to be carried out between COP-MOP4 and COP-MOP5 comprising three types of activities: (i) ad hoc online discussion groups; (iii) regional real-time online conferences; and (iv) face-to-face meetings of the AHTEG.

Through the online forum, Discussion Groups and Real-time Conferences took place. The AHTEG met twice face-to-face first in Montreal, Canada (20-24 April 2009) and second in Ljubljana, Slovenia (19-23 April 2010).

One of the main outcomes of this process is a document entitled “Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms”. This guidance is divided into two sections entitled “Part I: Roadmap for Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms” and “Part II: Specific Types of Living Modified Organisms and Traits” (i.e. living modified crops with tolerance to abiotic stress, living modified mosquitoes and living modified organisms with stacked genes or traits).

This guidance document may be found in the annex to the final report of the AHTEG or online through the BCH (see the left-side menu on this page).

The online forum is publicly accessible, but posting messages is restricted to pre-registered participants during the period when the discussions are open. There are no activities currently scheduled under the Online Forum.

Documents resulting from this process and submitted to COP-MOP-5 as information documents:

UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/5/INF/12 Analysis of the Open-Ended Online Expert Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management (October 2008 - February 2009)
UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/5/INF/13 Report of the First Meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment and Risk Management under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (20-24 April 2009, Montreal, Canada)
UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/5/INF/14 Analysis of the Open-Ended Online Expert Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management (June 2009 - February 2010)
UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/5/INF/15 Final Report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment and Risk Management under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (19-23 April 2010, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

What is the forum?

This is a virtual platform where experts will interact and exchange opinions on specific aspects of risk assessment and risk management of living modified organisms (LMOs).

The online forum is part of a continuous process established in decision BS-IV/11 that comprises the following events: i) the establishment of an open-ended online forum, ii) discussion groups on specific topics, iii) two series of sub-regional real time conferences, and iv) two meetings of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG). The outcomes of the online discussion groups and real-time conferences will serve as one of the inputs of the deliberations by the AHTEG.

A number of activities has been scheduled between the fourth and fifth meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol (May 2008 - October 2010). Please refer to the Calendar of Events for a complete list of past and future activities.

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Who can participate?

The online forum will be publicly accessible through the BCH, but posting will be restricted to registered participants. Experts who are actively involved in risk assessment and risk management are invited to participate in this process. There is no limit to the number of participants per country or organization taking part in the online forum. Nomination of Experts is ongoing.

National Experts: Nominations of experts by Parties and other Governments should be submitted by BCH National Focal Points (BCH-NFPs), preferably online to the Biosafety Clearing-House or, in case of limited internet connectivity, to the Secretariat by using the common format available for download here.

Participants to the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) were selected by the Secretariat, in consultation with the Bureau, from among those experts nominated by Parties on the basis of their expertise, participation in the Online Forum and taking into account geographic distribution and gender balance.

For more information on the nomination process, please see Notification 2008-110.

Observers: organizations wishing to nominate experts as observers should do so by filling out the online form (available here).

In case of limited internet connectivity the registration form is also available for download (click here to download the form) and can be emailed to the Secretariat at riskassessment.forum@cbd.int (please note that the "Record Validation" section in the last page of the downloadable common format is not required for the nomination of observers).

A limited number of observers were also selected by the Secretariat, in consultation with the Bureau, to take part in the AHTEG meetings as observers.

For more information on the process nominating Observers to the Forum, please see Notification 2008-128.

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How does it work?

There are currently two modalities of online events that take place under this Forum:

In the Discussion Groups, participants are able to share their opinions on specific themes through written postings and shared documents. Several Discussion Groups may run in parallel for a defined period of time (approx. 2-4 weeks). After the discussions are posted, all contributions remain publicly available for reading.

Real-time Online Conferences are also convened for each geographical sub-region. These conferences are chaired by a participant from each region. So far, two series of Real-time Online Conferences have been conducted. The full transcripts of all conferences are available for reading.

Each Real-time Online Conference will run for approximately 4 hours (including a 30-minute break) on specific dates prior to the two meetings of the AHTEG (see the Calendar of Events). During the Real-time Online Conferences, registered participants, connected to an online “chat” through the BCH, will be able to exchange ideas and discuss the different topics by posting and reading written interventions.

Documentation used for discussions in the online forum should be made available through the Biosafety Information Resource Centre.

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For further information on this forum please contact riskassessment.forum@cbd.int.

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