Decision COP VI/29

Having considered the report of the Executive Secretary on the administration of the Convention and the performance of the Convention’s trust funds(62),

Having also considered the proposed budget for the biennium 2003-2004 submitted by the Executive Secretary(63),

Noting the increased cooperation between the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, and other related agreements and the wide support for the implementation of the Convention’s programme of work among governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector through the provision of expertise, information and financial and human resources,

Noting with appreciation the commendable efforts of the Executive Secretary and his staff in the delivery and effective management of the programme of work for the biennium 2001-2002, including the substantial increase of the workload, within the approved budgetary and human resources,

1. Welcomes the annual contribution of US$ 1,000,000 from Canada, the host country of the Secretariat, to offset contributions from Parties for the biennium 2003-2004;

2. Approves a core budget (BY Trust Fund) of US$ 10,742,500 for the year 2003 and of US$ 11,214,300 for the year 2004, for the purposes listed in table 1 below;

3. Adopts the indicative scale of contributions for 2003 and 2004 contained in the annex to the present decision;

4. Decides to establish a working capital reserve at a level of 4 per cent of the core budget (BY Trust Fund) expenditure, including programme support costs(64),

5. Approves a Secretariat staffing table for the programme budget contained in table 2 below; requests that all staff positions be filled expeditiously and authorizes the Executive Secretary to redeploy staff within the Secretariat, where appropriate, to meet evolving needs and priorities and to ensure the smooth functioning of the Secretariat;

6.  Welcomes with appreciation the decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations of 8 December 2000, to upgrade the post of the Executive Secretary of the Convention from D-2 to Assistant Secretary-General (ASG), pursuant to paragraph 21 of its decision V/22; and endorses the decision of the Bureau of the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties approving the upgrading of the post of the Executive Secretary to Assistant Secretary-General in April 2001;

7. Requests the President of the Conference of the Parties, taking into account paragraph 6 above, to invite the Secretary-General of the United Nations to appoint the Executive Secretary at the level of Assistant Secretary-General, for a three-year term of office, starting on 1 July 2002;

8. Approves a drawing of US$ 5 million from the unspent balances or contributions ("carry-over") from previous financial periods to cover part of the 2003-2004 budget;

9. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to transfer resources among the programmes within the limits agreed to in decisions V/22, IV/17 and III/23, namely the ability to transfer between each of the main appropriation lines set out in table 1 up to an aggregate of 15 per cent of the total programme budget, provided that a further limitation of up to a maximum of 25 per cent of each such appropriation line shall apply;

10. Notes with concern that a number of Parties have not paid their contributions to the core budget (BY Trust Fund) for 2002 and prior years, which are due on 1 January of each year in accordance with paragraph 4 of the financial rules, and the late payment of contributions to the core budget by Parties during each calendar year of a biennium, which have contributed to the significant carry-over from one biennium to the next, and, in the event that there is no improvement in the payment of contributions by Parties, and invites the Executive Secretary to submit proposals for promoting full and timely payment of contributions by Parties for consideration and review by the Conference of the Parties at its seventh meeting;

11. Urges Parties that have still not paid their contributions to the core budget (BY Trust Fund) to do so without delay, and requests the Executive Secretary to publish and regularly update information on the status of contributions of Parties to the Convention’s trust funds (BY, BE, BZ);

12. Reiterates, with regard to contributions due from 1 January 2001 onwards, that Parties whose contributions are in arrears for two or more years will be allowed to attend the meetings of the Convention’s bodies with a maximum of two delegates until their arrears have been cleared;

13. Further reiterates that, with regard to contributions due from 1 January 2001 onwards, Parties that are not least developed countries or small island developing States whose contributions are in arrears for two or more years, will not receive funding from the Secretariat to attend meetings of the Convention’s bodies until their arrears have been cleared;

14. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into commitments up to the level of the approved budget, drawing on available cash resources, including unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income;

15. Decides to fund, upon request, from the core budget (BY Trust Fund) the participation of members of the bureaux of the Conference of the Parties and Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice at the inter-sessional meetings of the respective bureaux;

16. Endorses the decisions of the Bureau of the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties authorizing the Executive Secretary to utilize savings, unspent balances from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income in the amount of US$ 2,319,500 from the BY Trust Fund, of which US$ 1,157,142 was spent, to fund inter-sessional activities recommended by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing, which were not envisaged and therefore for which no budgetary allocations were approved by the Conference of the Parties at its fifth meeting, including the participation of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition, in the meetings of the Convention as well as to carry out activities approved by the Conference of the Parties and requests the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Bureau, to continue to monitor the availability of voluntary contributions to the BE and BZ Trust Funds in the event of any shortfalls;

17. Decides that the Trust Funds (BY, BE, BZ) for the Convention shall be extended for the period of two years, beginning 1 January 2004 and ending 31 December 2005;

18. Invites all Parties to the Convention to note that contributions to the core budget (BY) are due on 1 January of the year in which the these contributions have been budgeted for, and to pay them promptly, and urges Parties, in a position to do so, to pay by 1 October 2002 for the calendar year 2003 and by 1 October 2003 for the calendar year 2004 the contributions required to finance expenditures approved under paragraph 2 above, as offset by the amount in paragraph 4, and, in this regard, requests that Parties be notified of the amount of their contributions by 1 August of the year preceding the year in which the contributions are due;

19. Urges all Parties and States not party to the Convention, as well as governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other sources, to contribute to the trust funds (BY, BE, BZ) of the Convention;

20. Takes note of the funding estimates for the Special Voluntary Trust Fund (BE) for Additional Voluntary Contributions in Support of Approved Activities for the Biennium 2003-2004 specified by the Executive Secretary and included in table 3 below, and urges Parties to make contributions to this Fund;

21. Takes note also of the funding estimates for the special voluntary Trust Fund (BZ) for facilitating participation of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and the small island developing States among them, and Parties with economies in transition, for the biennium 2003?2004, as specified by the Executive Secretary and included in table 4 below, and urges Parties to make contributions to this Fund;

22.  Authorizes the Executive Secretary to consult with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties on any adjustments which may be necessary in the servicing of the programme of the work as foreseen in the core budget (BY Trust Fund) for the biennium 2003-2004, including the postponement of meetings, in the event that sufficient resources are not available to the Secretariat in a timely fashion from the approved budget (BY Trust Fund), including available cash resources, unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income;

23. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to draw, in consultation with the bureau of the Conference of the Parties, on available cash resources, including unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income within the approved core budget (BY Trust Fund) for the biennium 2003-2004, to cover any shortfalls in the special voluntary Trust Fund (BZ) for facilitating participation of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and the small island developing States among them, and Parties with economies in transition, for the biennium 2003-2004, in priorities(65) identified in the core budget (BY Trust Fund);

24. Authorizes the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties, to draw on available cash resources, including unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income within the approved core budget (BY Trust Fund) for the biennium 2003-2004, to fund inter-sessional activities recommended by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the ad hoc open-ended working groups, that have not been envisaged and for which no budgetary allocations were approved by the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting, up to a maximum of 20 per cent (US$ 855,523) of the cost of the priorities(65) identified within the core budget (BY Trust Fund) for the biennium 2003-2004;

25. Approves a contingency of US$ 250,000 to meet the costs of the conference services if a second meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety takes place in 2004, back-to-back with the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, and in the event that the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol does not decide on budgetary arrangements to this end;

26. Requests the Executive Secretary, in accordance with the provisions of Article 31, paragraph 3 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, to identify the costs of the secretariat services for the Protocol, to the extent that they are distinct, for inclusion in a proposed budget for the consideration of the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol;

27. Decides to establish, pursuant to paragraphs 6 and 7, section B, of recommendation 2/9 of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and on a pilot phase basis, a trust fund, to be administered by the Secretariat, for voluntary contributions from Parties and Governments for the specific purpose of supporting developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and the small island developing States among them, and Parties with economies in transition to pay for the use of experts selected from the roster of experts on biosafety; and requests the Executive Secretary to seek submissions from Governments on the operation of this Fund, and to report thereon to the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol;

28. Requests the Executive Secretary to prepare and submit a budget for the programme of work for the biennium 2005-2006 for the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and report on income and budget performance as well as any adjustments made to the Convention budget for the biennium 2003- 2004;

29. Authorizes the Executive Secretary, in an effort to improve the efficiency of the Secretariat and to attract highly qualified staff to the Secretariat, to enter into direct administrative and contractual arrangements with Parties, governments and organizations—in response to offers of human resources and other support to the Secretariat—as may be necessary for the effective discharge of the functions of the Secretariat, while ensuring the efficient use of available competencies, resources and services, and taking into account United Nations rules and regulations. Special attention should be given to possibilities of creating synergies with relevant, existing work programmes or activities that are being implemented within the framework of other international organizations;