The 18th meeting of the Central African Biodiversity Working Group, established under the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), gathered representatives of Central African countries, who reviewed activities related to national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) and the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing (ABS), prepared for the second plenary meeting of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES-2) and adopted the Working Group's 2014 roadmap.
December 2013: The 18th meeting of the Central African Biodiversity Working Group, established under the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), gathered representatives of Central African countries to review activities related to national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) and the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing (ABS), prepare for the second plenary meeting of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES-2) and adopt the Working Group’s 2014 roadmap.
The meeting was held from 26-29 November 2013, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and was hosted by the Commission des Forets d’Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC) Secretariat.
Among other issues, the meeting took note of progress made in activities relating to the review of NBSAPs and ABS implementation at national and sub-regional levels as well as the drafting of the fifth national reports on biodiversity, and requested the countries to comply with respective timelines for the finalization of various reports. The meeting also adopted the 2014 roadmap and decided that preparations for the third meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Committee for the Nagoya Protocol on ABS, to be held in February 2014, would include: designation of three working groups, discussions between the groups on various draft position papers, and the forwarding of draft position papers to the Steering Team for harmonization. [Central African Biodiversity Working Group (GTBAC) Press Release]