title 1

Building Capacity for Effective Participation in the Biosafety Clearing House (BCH)

Jyoti Mathur-FilippTask Manager28 January 2004

Biosafety Unit

Why are we doing this project?

Article 20 of the Cartagena Protocol established Biosafety Clearing-House was established to:

(a) Facilitate the exchange of scientific, technical, environmental and legal information on, and experience with, living modified organisms; and

(b) Assist Parties to implement the Protocol, taking into account the special needs of developing country Parties.

Biosafety Unit

Where does the project fit?

Add-on project to the UNEP-GEF Development of National Biosafety Frameworks project;Fits within the GEF Initial Strategy for assisting countries to prepare for entry into force of the Cartagena Protocol.Specifically to support activities for: “countries to participate in BCH, once the terms of reference are agreed

Biosafety Unit

What is the Overall Objective?

to develop core human resources and establish an appropriate national BCH infrastructure to enable eligible countries to fully participate in, and benefit from the Biosafety Clearing House

Biosafety Unit

Who is eligible?

Countries:– that are normally eligible for GEF funding;– have ratified or acceded to the Cartagena Protocol

by the time of the first Meeting of the Parties; and – are not beneficiaries of the GEF project to support

implementation of their National Biosafety Frameworks;

As of 21 January 2004, the number of countries that fulfil this criteria are 56

Biosafety Unit

Project duration and contents

Duration: 36 months

Components: Training and Equipment.

title 2

Biosafety Unit

What will the Training involve?

Training;Networking; andDevelopment and Documentation of training material

Biosafety Unit

What will Training & Networking include?

Compilation of a roster of qualified experts;Organization of a series of ‘regional’ training/orientation workshops; Organization of a series of national-level workshops.

Biosafety Unit

What training material will be developed?

Development and dissemination of an interactive computer-based tutorial including the BCH toolkit; An interactive tutorial;A BCH database template developed in Microsoft Access with BCH common formats; A mechanism to export national data to the BCH through the use of Internet or data-storage media (e.g. CD-ROM).

All material to be made available in six UN languages Biosafety Unit

What is the equipment component?

Countries will need to choose a model for their national BCH based on 1 of 4 options developed by the CBD secretariat;Detailed list of requirements to be submitted by the national BCH Task Force; Appropriate hardware and software will be provided, based on negotiation with the UNEP-GEF Biosafety Unit;Countries need to establish strategies to ensure continued sustainability forobligations related to the BCH.

Biosafety Unit

What are the expected results?

Strengthened capacities of potential users of the BCH in relevant ministries and other institutions in order to fulfil requirements of the CP related to the BCH;Improved physical infrastructure of national BCH components;Sustained capacity to use and access the BCH in-country.

Biosafety Unit

The Budget

GEF Contribution: USD 4,615,000Governments & in-Kind 350,000Total Project Cost USD 4,965,000Associated Funding from USA 126,280

GRAND TOTAL USD 5,091,280

title 3

Biosafety Unit

Associated Funding

The US government will help develop a template database compatible with the technical specifications provided by the CBDS, which will enable data collected in national databases to be used by the BCH central portal.Elements of a training package and assistance in some of the training workshops will also be provided.

Biosafety Unit

Synergy with the Implementation Project

Countries participating in the implementation project will have access to training material produced by the project; andIn addition, they may wish to attend the training course conducted under this project. The modalities for attending training still needs to worked out.