Report of IIFB preparation process, 15-17 October

By Alancay Morales Garro, Costa Rica

Friday 15^th of October

Indigenous representatives from different regions gathered together on the University of Chukyo in Nagoya, Japan for the first day of the preparation meeting of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) for the 10^th Conference of the Parties (COP10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

The first day consisted on an introduction about the CBD, the COP methodology, the thematic and cross cutting issues, especially for new indigenous participants.

Various indigenous representatives were not present at the IIFB due to the ongoing negotiations of the International Regime on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing (also known as ABS) which is one of the main areas of concern of indigenous peoples.

At the end of the day, meetings were held among participants from different regions in order to organize themselves according to the issues that they would be following up during their participation on the COP.

During the night, a local indigenous organization hosted the participants in a reception which included local food and a live performance of a cultural group.

Saturday 16^th of October

Today the two co-chairs of the IIFB were selected: Ms. Malia Nobrega (Hawaii) and Maria Eugenia Choque (Bolivia). It has been a common practice that two people chair the IIFB, one from an English speaking country and another from a Spanish speaking country.

During the meeting different working groups, within the IIFB, were established for following up on most of the thematic programmes and cross-cutting issues. The responsibility of these working groups is to analyze the texts that will be negotiated during the COP10 for determining areas of concern and the position that indigenous peoples should have with regard to the proposed texts.

 

Sunday 17^th of October

Today the members of the IIFB met at Chukyo University and the different working groups presented their findings on the negotiating documents. Concerns and strategies were presented to the group in order to determine whether the IIFB approved or had suggestions for improving the text and/or strategy.

With the inputs from the rest of the members of the IIFB, each working group had a revision meeting to incorporate the concerns, comments and suggestions raised during the revision of their presentations at the IIFB.

Another team was established for drafting the opening statement that is to be read at the plenary of the COP 10 on Monday 18^th.