The 'Roundtable on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice Regarding Living Modified Organisms/Genetically Modified Organisms,' organized jointly by the UN Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), identified key challenges, needs and good practices with regard to accession and implementation of these two treaties.
18 December 2013: The ‘Roundtable on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice Regarding Living Modified Organisms/Genetically Modified Organisms,’ which was organized jointly by the UN Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), identified key challenges, needs and good practices with regard to accession and implementation of these two treaties.
The roundtable took place from 16-17 October 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland, in accordance with decisions of the governing bodies of the two treaties calling for cooperation in order to maximize synergies and avoid duplication of efforts.
The roundtable called for concrete actions at the national level to, among others: strengthen coordination between the national focal points of the two treaties; ratify and implement the GMO amendment to the Aarhus Convention; implement the programme of work on public awareness, education and participation concerning the safe transfer, handling and use of LMOs under the Biosafety Protocol; address relevant requirements of the two treaties in biosafety projects of the Global Environment Facility (GEF); continue to use the Lucca Guidelines developed in the framework of the Aarhus Convention and the Biosafety Protocol programme of work as tools for developing legislation and promoting effective decision-making in the context of LMOs/GMOs; exchange through the Biosafety Clearing-house and the Aarhus Clearing-house case studies on best practices and lessons learnt; and provide guidance on implementation of legal instruments with regard to access to justice.
At the multilateral level, the secretariats and subsidiary bodies of the two treaties should continue assisting countries in ratifying and implementing the two instruments through, among others, developing jointly a checklist of key measures required for ratifying and a summary describing sources of available technical assistance, tools and material.
The report will be submitted to both the seventh meeting of the parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, held from 29 September – 3 October 2014, in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, and the fifth meeting of the parties to the Aarhus Convention, held from 30 June – 4 July 2014, in Maastricht, the Netherlands. [Report of the Joint Roundtable on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice Regarding Living Modified Organisms/Genetically Modified Organisms]