In progress at UNHQ

ENV/DEV/384

HOST COUNTRY AGREEMENT FOR MONTREAL SECRETARIAT OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION SIGNED BY CANADA, UNEP

28 October 1996


Press Release
ENV/DEV/384
HE/939


HOST COUNTRY AGREEMENT FOR MONTREAL SECRETARIAT OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION SIGNED BY CANADA, UNEP

19961028 NEW YORK, 25 October (UNEP) -- The host country agreement for the operation in Montreal of the secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity was signed here today at a ceremony at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations. The agreement formalizes the legal arrangements that allow the secretariat to carry out its day-to-day operations in the most effective manner possible.

Ambassador Robert Fowler, Canada's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, signed on behalf of the host Government, while Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), signed for the Convention secretariat, which is administered by UNEP.

In Jakarta last November, the parties to the Convention selected Montreal to host its secretariat. The year before, in Nassau, the Bahamas, UNEP was chosen to carry out those secretariat functions.

Recognizing the immense value of the earth's biological resources, governments, under UNEP auspices, negotiated the Convention on Biological Diversity in time for signing at the 1992 Earth Summit. It entered into force on 29 December 1993. As of 11 October, 161 countries plus the European Community (now Union) have become parties to it. The third Conference of its parties will take place from 4 to 15 November in Buenos Aires.

The Convention's objectives are "the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources". It is the first global, comprehensive agreement to address all three aspects of biological diversity: genetic resources, species and ecosystems.

The Montreal secretariat, with a staff of 20 permanent professional positions, is headed by an Executive Secretary, Calestous Juma of Kenya.

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Note: For further information, please contact the Convention on Biological Diversity, World Trade Centre, 393 Saint-Jacques Street, Office 300, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1N9. Phone: 1-514-288-2220; Fax: 1-514-288-6588; e-mail: biodiv@mtl.net. Documents relating to the Buenos Aires Conference are available on the Internet at http://www.biodiv.org.

For information media. Not an official record.