Uganda Clearing House Mechanism

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another. It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Upload article/brief of the Strategic Plan for the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety for the period 2011-2020.

Click here for full document