Welcoming the conclusions and suggestions for next steps from the Workshop on Capacity-building for Research and Information Exchange on Socio-economic Impacts of Living Modified Organisms held from 14 to 16 November 2011 in New Delhi,
Noting that, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 26 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Parties may take into account, consistent with their international obligations, socio-economic considerations arising from the impact of living modified organisms on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, especially with regard to the value of biological diversity to indigenous and local communities, in reaching a decision on import under the Protocol or under their domestic measures to implement the Protocol,
Recognizing the need expressed by several Parties for further guidance when choosing to implement paragraph 1 of Article 26 of the Protocol,
Recalling operational objective 1.7 of the Strategic Plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety for the Period 2011-2020 and section IV of
decision BS-V/3,
1.Encourages Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to continue to:
(a)Conduct research on the socio-economic impact of living modified organisms with a view to filling knowledge gaps and identifying specific socio-economic issues, including those with positive impacts;
(b)Share and exchange, through the Biosafety Clearing-House, information on their research, research methods and experiences in taking the socio-economic impact of living modified organisms into account;
(c)Engage local institutions of higher education with a view to building domestic capacity in socio-economic analysis of the impact of living modified organisms on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity;
2.Requests the Executive Secretary, in order to develop a global overview, keeping in mind national and regional specificities and policies along with other commitments, to compile, take stock of and review information on socio-economic considerations arising from the impact of living modified organisms on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, especially with regard to the value of biological diversity to indigenous and local communities, on the basis of:
(a)Existing institutional frameworks, legislation and policies with provisions on socio-economic considerations;
(b)Capacity-building activities related to biosafety and socio-economic considerations;
(c)Existing expertise and experience;
(d)Other policy initiatives concerning social and economic impact assessments;
3.Requests the Executive Secretary to convene online discussion groups and regional online real-time conferences to facilitate and synthesize the exchange of views, information and experiences on socio-economic considerations among Parties, other Governments, relevant organizations and indigenous and local communities in the context of paragraph 1 of Article 26;
4.Decides to establish an ad hoc technical expert group, subject to the availability of funds, to:
(a)Draw upon the outcomes of paragraphs 2 and 3 above in order to develop conceptual clarity in the context of paragraph 1 of Article 26;
(b)Carry out its work according to the terms of reference annexed hereto; and
(c)Submit its report for consideration by the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety with a view to enabling the meeting to deliberate and decide upon appropriate further steps towards fulfilling operational objective 1.7 of the Strategic Plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety for the Period 2011-2020 and its outcomes, in a manner that provides flexibility to take into account the situations in different countries;
5.Encourages Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to make funds available to the Executive Secretary to organize a meeting of the ad hoc technical expert group.
