IABIN Council Meeting

City of Knowledge, Panama

6-8 April 2005

Marcos Silva

Bonnie C. Carroll

Convention on Biodiversity Clearing-House Mechanism

Clearinghouse Mechanism (CHM)

The CHM was created pursuant to Article 18, paragraph 3 of the CBD to promote and facilitate technical and scientific cooperation among Parties.

3 Major Objectives• Scientific and Technical Cooperation (Art. 18)

– Decision making tools– Capacity-building– Funding– Transfer of technology (Art. 16)

• Information Exchange (Art. 17)– Access to existing information– Development of new information sources

• Networking– Development

of partnerships• Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH)

– Established by Art. 20 of Cartagena Protocol– To facilitate information exchange on LMOs– To assist Parties to implement the Protocol

Informal Advisory Committee• Provide feedback and advise to Executive Secretary• Has regional and NGO representation including Pacific

interests:– Belgium - GBIF– Burkino Faso - GISP– Canada - IBIN – Grenada - Costa Rica– India - IABIN– Iran - SI/NMNH – New Zealand - UNFCCC– Zimbabwe

150 Designated Focal Points

• 68 with web sites (http://www.biodiv.org/chm/stats.asp)

• LAC has 27 NFPs, 12 web sites– Plus US and Canada

International Thematic Focal Points

• Birdlife International

• Global Invasive Species Program (GISP)

• Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI)

• NatureServe

Collaboration - Focal Point Network

Country

User

FP

FP

FP

FP

InformationPartner FP Focal Point

InternationalOrganization

University

Private Company

NGO

Web-Based Services

• Web site – main information dissemination mechanism

• Search engine based on web crawler• On-line databases: experts, case studies,

projects, national reports analyzer• On-Line document commenting• Discussion forums by topic

Other Services• Interoperability Services• CD-ROM (Tool kits)• Distribution Lists• Fax Server where no e-mail• Publications

– Newsletters– Technical series– Document Mail-out

The CHM, completed its information exchange pilot phase;

Will continue to develop information exchange mechanisms in support of the Convention, programs and cross-cutting issues.

New Direction of the CHM

New Direction of the CHM• The CHM is focusing on capacity

building initiatives– Primary focus is on the promotion of

technical and scientific collaboration.

• COP urges the Executive Secretary to convene additional capacity-building workshops at the national, subregional and regional levels (VI/18, paragraph 4)

Contact

Marcos SilvaProgramme OfficerSecretariat for the Convention on Biological DiversityUnited Nations Environment Programme

marcos.silva@biodiv.org

http://www.biodiv.org