3 October 2014: The seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP/MOP 7) adopted 14 decisions, including decisions providing for continued intersessional work on risk assessment and risk management and socio-economic considerations.

The meeting adopted 14 decisions on: compliance; the Biosafety Clearing-house (BCH); financial mechanism and resources; cooperation with other organizations, conventions and initiatives; improving the efficiency of structures and processes; the budget; handling, transport, packaging and identification (HTPI) of living modified organisms (LMOs) (Article 18); the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress (the Supplementary Protocol); risk assessment and risk management; socio-economic considerations; monitoring and reporting; assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Protocol; unintentional transboundary movements and emergency measures; and contained use of LMOs.

Delegates generally welcomed the meeting’s outcomes, noting that the decisions on risk assessment and socio-economic considerations, in particular, provided a mandate to advance work on important elements of the Protocol in the upcoming intersessional period. Some, however, expressed concern that COP/MOP 7 did not engage in the development of further guidance on specific aspects of risk assessment and unintentional transboundary movements, and wondered whether future COP/MOPs, which will in all likelihood be held concurrently with the CBD COPs and Nagoya Protocol COP/MOPs will offer sufficient opportunity to tackle these issues that are specific to the Biosafety Protocol. Overall, delegates were nonetheless optimistic that the streamlining of meetings and work under the Convention will prove to be beneficial for the future implementation of the Protocol.

COP/MOP 7 was held 29 September – 3 October in Pyeongchang, the Republic of Korea. [CBD Press Release I][CBD Press Release II][Opening Statement by CBD Executive Secretary][IISD RS meeting coverage] [UNEP Press Release]