At its
fifth meeting, the COP-MOP adopted
decision BS-V/3 on the status of capacity-building activities. Section IV relates to Cooperation on identification of capacity-building needs for research and information exchange on socio-economic considerations. In paragraph 24, the COP-MOP requested the Executive Secretary to convene regional online conferences to: (i) facilitate the exchange of views, information and experiences on socio-economic considerations on a regional basis; and (ii) identify possible issues for further consideration. Paragraph 25 further requested the Executive Secretary to convene a regionally-balanced workshop on capacity-building for research and information exchange on socio-economic impacts of living modified organisms.
To implement the above requests, the Secretariat initiated a
three-step process.
1) A series of
online discussion groups on socio-economic considerations which ran from 21 March to 8 May 2011. The purpose of the online discussion groups was to:
(a) Facilitate a global exchange of information and experiences on socio-economic considerations;
(b) Develop a clearer understanding of the different perspectives on the issue; and
(c) Identify issues for further discussion during the regional online real-time conferences and the workshop.
2)
Regional online real-time conferences. Five real-time conferences were held:
(a) Africa (in English), 16 June 2011;
(b) Western European and Others Group (WEOG) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (in English), 21 June 2011;
(c) Latin America and the Caribbean (in Spanish), 23 June 2011;
(d) Africa (in French), 5 July 2011; and
(e) Asia-Pacific (in English), 7 July 2011.
3) A
workshop on socio-economic considerations held from 14 to 16 November 2011 in New Delhi, India. The objectives of the workshop were: (a) analysis of the capacity-building activities, needs and priorities regarding socio-economic considerations and identification of options for cooperation in addressing those needs; and (b) exchange and analysis of information on the use of socio-economic considerations in the context of Article 26 of the Protocol.
