Convention on Biological Diversity 56d ago

Escazú Agreement COP4 | Side Event | Support for the Implementation of the Escazú Agreement, the Aarhus Convention and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity co-organized with the Aarhus Convention and the Escazú Agreement an event held for the first time with all the three treaties entitled: Support for the Implementation of the Escazú Agreement, Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice. The aim of the event was to provide experts to share relevant developments, including good practices and lessons learnt regarding awareness raising, access to information, public participation and access to justice on biosafety-related matters. The event promoted Target 17 of the KMGBF and national actions to advance “the whole of government” and “the whole of the society” approach to implement these treaties by promoting interdepartmental cooperation among the relevant national authorities, expertise and institutional capacity of authorities handling biosafety matters, effective and inclusive access to information and public participation in developing legislation, policies, programmes and plans, using citizens’ science and local and ingenious knowledge. It also promoted the implementation of the three treaties in synergy through identifying capacity-building needs and opportunities for inter-regional cooperation; making use a joint Aarhus Convention/CBD pocket guide; raising awareness of the benefits and implementation of the three treaties. Apart from the moderator, Mr. Helmut Gaugitsch, Environment Agency Austria, and three secretariats, the main speakers included, Mexico, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Public Research and Regulation Initiative, the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and ECO-TIRAS The pocket guide is available in the 6 UN official languages at: https://bch.cbd.int/onlineconferences/portal_art23/resources.shtml#tab=2 The presentations and video recording of the meeting are available at: https://bch.cbd.int/en/database/BCHN/BCH-BCHN-SCBD-293893-3