The sixth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) opened on 21 January 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

In a continuation of the fifth meeting of the Working Group, held in October 2007, the Working Group is to proceed with the elaboration and negotiation of an international regime on ABS, under the co-chairmanship of Fernando Casas (Colombia) and Timothy Hodges (Canada). Discussions are expected to focus on issues related to: compliance, including measures to support compliance with prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms, an internationally recognized certificate of origin/source/legal provenance, and monitoring, enforcement and dispute settlement; traditional knowledge and genetic resources; capacity building; and the nature, scope and objectives of the international regime. The results of the deliberations of the Working Group will be submitted for consideration by the Conference of the Parties to the CBD at its ninth meeting, to be held from 19-30 May 2008, in Bonn, Germany.
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IISD RS coverage of the meeting