The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in collaboration with and support from the “UNEP GEF Project for Sustainable Capacity Building for Effective Participation in the Biosafety Clearing-House” (BCH III Project), will convene a “Biosafety Clearing-House Training Workshop” on 5-6 December 2022 in Montreal, Canada, on the margins of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP-MOP-10). 

The training workshop is being offered to the National Focal Points and National Authorized Users for the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) from all country Parties to the Cartagena Protocol, especially those who have endorsed the UNEP-GEF BCH III Project. The main objectives of the two-day workshop are:

• To provide general information on the BCH, its relevance to the Cartagena Protocol and its role in the exchange of information about decisions on living modified organisms; and
• To present the new BCH interface and provide hands-on training on searching and submitting information, including examination of case studies and discussion sessions about the BCH.

Registration:

Nominations should be sent in the form of an official letter addressed to the Executive Secretary of the CBD, providing the name and contact details of the delegate, and must be accompanied by the participant’s pre-registration form, available at http://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2022/ntf-2022-060-bch-en.docx, duly completed and endorsed by the National Focal Point for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Please note that the nominees must be also accredited as national representatives to attend CP-MOP-10. The documents should be sent to the Secretariat at secretariat@cbd.int as soon as possible but no later than 10 October 2022. Due to the limited capacity of the training venue, placement for the workshop will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

The workshop will be conducted in the English language. The level of ability to speak and understand English should be, therefore, taken into account when nominating participants.

We look forward to your active participation!

The BCH Team