The second session of the UN Environment Programme’s High-level Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on an Intergovernmental Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity Building (IGSP) took place at UN headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, from 2-4 September 2004.

The session was attended by over 200 delegates representing governments, UN agencies and programmes, secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements, intergovernmental organizations and civil society. Throughout the session, delegates met in plenary and in two working groups to consider the IGSP Chair’s “building blocks” paper, with the aim of producing a negotiating text for the third session of the intergovernmental working group, to be held from 2-4 December 2004, in Bali, Indonesia.
The meeting was held in a cooperative atmosphere, with almost no negotiation of proposed text, as delegates mostly engaged in substantive explanation of positions presented. The general feeling was that Nairobi presented a good opportunity to explore the “philosophy” of a strategic plan, while “serious bargaining” will start in Bali. Click here for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin report on this meeting.