1.Adopts the Strategic Plan of the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety for the period 2011 2020 (annex I to the
present decision) and its multi-year programme of work of the
Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to
the Protocol (annex II to the present decision);
2.Urges Parties and
invites other
Governments and relevant international organizations, as
appropriate, to:
(a)Review and align, as
appropriate, their national action plans and programmes relevant to
the implementation of the Protocol, including their National
Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, with the Strategic Plan;
and
(b)Allocate adequate human and financial resources
necessary to expedite the implementation of the Strategic
Plan;
3.Urges Parties to submit their national
reports on the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety in a comprehensive and timely manner using the second
national reporting format in order for the second assessment and
review on the effectiveness of the Protocol to, among other things,
establish a baseline for evaluating progress in the implementation
of the Protocol and the Strategic Plan;
4.Decides to conduct a mid-term evaluation of
the Strategic Plan:
(a)Five years after its adoption
in conjunction with the third assessment and review scheduled to be
conducted at the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol;
(b)Using appropriate evaluation
criteria that need to be proposed by the Executive Secretary at the
seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the
meeting of the Parties to the Protocol.
Annex I
STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE CARTAGENA
PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY FOR THE PERIOD 2011-2020
I.THE CONTEXT
1.The
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety was adopted in January 2000 and
entered into force on 11 September 2003. The first meeting of the
Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to
the Protocol (COP-MOP) adopted, on the basis of recommendations
from the Intergovernmental Committee on the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety, a medium-term programme of work for the period covering
the second to the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol.
2.Over the past six years since the first meeting of the
Parties, significant achievements have been made towards the
implementation of the Protocol. The number of Parties has increased
by more than 100 since the entry into force of the Protocol. Many
decisions have been adopted to facilitate the implementation of the
Protocol and the Biosafety Clearing House became fully operational.
More than 100 countries received, through the implementing agencies
of the Global Environment Facility, capacity-building assistance in
support of their efforts to develop and implement their national
biosafety legal and administrative frameworks. The number of
bilateral, sub-regional and regional cooperative arrangements to
support biosafety capacity building activities has also increased
in the past years.
3.The
medium-term programme of work of the Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol has been
instrumental in guiding the implementation of the Protocol. The
medium term programme of work is due to end at the present meeting
of the Parties to the Protocol.
4.A
process was established to undertake an assessment and review of
the effectiveness of the Protocol in accordance with Article 35 of
the Protocol. The initiation of the assessment and review process
on the one hand, and the completion of the medium term programme of
work on the other, presented an opportunity for Parties to consider
developing a long term vision for the Protocol in the form of a
strategic plan and a corresponding multi-year programme of work.
This also coincides with the ongoing process to revise and update
the Strategic Plan of the Convention in light of the resolve for
action beyond the 2010 biodiversity target.
5.Significant challenges remain as regards the
implementation of the Protocol. The Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol still needs
to provide additional guidance and clarify procedures and processes
in a number of areas, such as the application of the advance
informed agreement procedure, compliance (Article 34), liability
and redress (Article 27), risk assessment and risk management
(Articles 15 and 16), handling, transport, packaging and
identification (Article 18) and capacity-building (Article 22). One
of the major prerequisites of successful implementation of planned
activities is the provision of sufficient financial resources
including alternative mechanisms for funding and technical support
especially for developing countries and countries with economies in
transition.
6.This Strategic Plan and the multi-year programme of
work accompanying it (annex II) have been prepared on the basis of
the submissions from Parties, the analysis of the first national
reports, the successive decisions taken by the Conference of the
Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol at
its last four meetings, and through general discussions and
comments received from Parties, other Governments and stakeholders.
The Strategic Plan also takes into account the experience gained
through the development, implementation and revision of the
Strategic Plan of the Convention.
II.THE STRATEGIC PLAN: ITS
INTERPRETATION AND MONITORING
7.The
Strategic Plan consists of a vision, a mission and five strategic
objectives. For each strategic objective there are a number of
expected impacts, operational objectives, outcomes and indicators.
The strategic objectives have been derived and prioritized
according to their contribution to the full implementation of the
Protocol, taking into consideration the limited implementation as
established by the Assessment and Review process. The focal areas
underlying the five strategic objectives are, in their order of
priority, as follows: 1. Facilitating the establishment and further
development of effective biosafety systems for the implementation
of the Protocol; 2. Capacity-building; 3. Compliance and review; 4.
Information sharing; 5. Outreach and cooperation.
8.The
vision and mission are the overarching statements of the desired
future state and the purpose that the Strategic Plan strives to
achieve in the long run while the five strategic objectives spell
out what will need to be met in order for the vision and the
mission to be achieved within the ten-year duration of the Plan. In
addition, the Strategic Plan has been presented in the form of a
logical framework for ease of reference:
(a)Each strategic objective has a
number of expected impacts that will occur if the strategic
objective is achieved;
(b)The operational objectives
comprise actions that will need to be undertaken in order to
realise the impacts;
(c)The outcomes are the
consequences that would be seen if the operational objectives are
achieved, an aggregation of the outcomes will result in the impacts
of the strategic goals; and
(d)The indicators serve as a
monitoring and evaluation tool of the Strategic Plan for measuring
achievements.
9.The
stakeholders of the Strategic Plan will vary depending on the
issues, the actions or activities described in the Plan. Some of
the actions will be undertaken by either the Parties or other
Governments or the Secretariat or other organizations or
individuals or a combination of all.
10.The elements of the Strategic Plan should also be
interpreted in light of the text of the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety. Any interpretation and understanding of the Strategic
Plan should be considered only in the context and scope of the
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
11.This Strategic Plan will be implemented through a
ten-year programme of work for the Protocol, supported by biennial
work plans. The multi-year programme of work will, if necessary, be
adjusted from time to time on the basis of: (i) experience gained
in the implementation of the requirements of the Protocol; and (ii)
the result of the periodic assessment and review of the
effectiveness of the Protocol as provided for in Article 35 of the
Protocol. A mid-term evaluation will be undertaken five years after
the adoption of the Strategic Plan. This evaluation process will
use the indicators in the Strategic Plan to assess the extent to
which the strategic objectives are being achieved. Information will
be drawn mainly from the national reports and from other sources
that are relevant and available to generate the data necessary for
the analysis. The evaluation will capture the effectiveness of the
Strategic Plan and allow Parties to adapt to emerging trends in the
implementation of the Protocol. Sufficient resources will need to
be allocated to this process.
III.ASSUMPTIONS
12.A
number of assumptions have been made in the development of the
Strategic Plan. First, it is assumed that the Conference of the
Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol will
adopt a number of decisions including on: common approaches to risk
assessment and risk management; identification and documentation; a
supplementary protocol on liability and redress; and socio-economic
considerations and decision-making. It is also assumed that:
(a)Parties and subregional
organizations are incorporating rules and procedures from the
decisions of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting
of the Parties to the Protocol into their national or regional
frameworks;
(b)The "Action Plan for Building
Capacities for the Effective Implementation of the Protocol" will
be regularly updated, agreed upon and implemented;
(c)Parties will submit, in a
timely manner, national reports and the required information, such
as existing laws and regulations, and decisions on living modified
organisms, to the Biosafety Clearing-House;
(d)Adequate and predictable
resources will be made available at the national and international
level. It is also noted that biennial detailed budgets presented at
each meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the
meeting of the Parties to the Protocol during the duration of the
Strategic Plan are essential for the effective implementation of
the Strategic Plan.
13.A
further assumption is that a baseline of the status of
implementation of the Protocol and global indicators will be
established after the second assessment and review process of the
Protocol at the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to establish
a global picture. The indicators have been drafted in such a way
that they would facilitate measurement of progress against this
baseline.
IV.HUMAN RESOURCE NEEDS TO SUPPORT
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN
14.The implementation of the Strategic Plan calls for
adequate financial resources to support relevant activities at the
national level as well as activities that are expected to be
conducted by the Secretariat.
15.It
is recognized that Parties are facing challenges accessing funds
available under the existing financial mechanism. It is, therefore,
necessary to take measures that improve accessibility of available
funds. In this regard, the Global Environment Facility is invited
to make funds available to eligible Parties in a facilitated manner
and to monitor expeditious accessibility of those funds. Parties
are also invited to provide, in their national reports in the
section of the reporting format that refers to capacity building,
information on their experience in accessing existing funds from
the Global Environment Facility.
