The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council is the main governing body of the GEF. It functions as an independent board of directors, with primary responsibility for developing, adopting, and evaluating GEF programmes. Council members representing 32 constituencies (16 from developing countries, 14 from developed countries, and two from countries with transitional economies) meet for three days, twice each year.
dates: 4-7 June 2012 location: Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
Organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the PoWPA Friends Consortium and hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning of Serbia, this workshop aims to build capacity to: create national action plans for implementation of the programme of work on protected areas (PoWPA); access funding based on these action plans; and strengthen implementation of the PoWPA on the themes of governance, climate change, sustainable financing, and valuation of the costs and benefits of protected areas.
dates: 4-8 June 2012 location: Serbia additional: Belgrade
The first session of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) in charge of advising member countries in the implementation of the Protocol on Marine Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol) will take place in Aruba. The LBS Protocol is one of several to the Cartagena Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR). Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, France, Guyana, Panama, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US are Parties to the Protocol. The UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (CAR/RCU) provides the secretariat services for the Convention, its Protocols and its associated bodies such as the STAC. The first session of the STAC will discuss, inter alia: emerging pollution issues for the WCR; state of the WCR coastal and marine environment; implementation of the LBS Protocol; and new projects/needs.
dates: 4-8 June 2012 location: Oranjestad, Aruba
This online discussion group is organized as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) Online Forum on Public Awareness, Education and Participation Concerning the Safe Transfer, Handling and Use of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs). The discussion group aims to facilitate exchange of views and information regarding the meaning, scope and importance of public access to information on biosafety in the context of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. It will address the following themes: meaning and scope of public access to information; public right to information; and the rationale/importance of public access to biosafety information. Parties, other governments and relevant organizations are invited to nominate individuals involved in, or responsible for, promoting public awareness, education and participation at the national level to participate in the Forum.
dates: 4-10 June 2012 venue: Biosafety Clearing House Website location: Montreal, Canada (virtual)
The 22nd Meeting of States Parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 22) is scheduled to consider, inter alia: the election of 21 members of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS); the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of UNCLOS; the report of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to the Meeting of States Parties for 2011 (SPLOS/241); information reported by the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority; the CLCS, including information reported by the Chair of the Commission; and budgetary matters of ITLOS.
dates: 4-11 June 2012 venue: UN Headquarters location: New York, United States of America
