CBDCONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY.pdf

/… For reasons of economy, this document is printed in a limited number. Delegates are kindly requested to bring their copies to meetings and not to request additional copies CBD CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Distr. GENERAL UNEP/CBD/BS/WG-LR/3/INF/3 6 February 2007 ENGLISH ONLY OPEN-ENDED AD HOC WORKING GROUP OF LEGAL AND TECHNICAL EXPERTS ON LIABILITY AND REDRESS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY Third meeting Montreal, 19-23 February 2007 Item 3 of the provisional agenda? EXPERIENCE OF OTHER INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS AND FORUMS AS REGARDS DAMAGE SUFFERED IN AREAS BEYOND NATIONAL JURISDICTION Note by the Executive Secretary I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Open-ended Ad Hoc Working Group of Legal and Technical Experts in the Context of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety held its second meeting from 20 to 24 February 2006 in Montreal. The Working Group, in its conclusion, requested, inter alia, that the Secretariat gather and make available, at its third meeting information on how damage suffered in areas beyond limits of national jurisdiction or control of States is being addressed in other international instruments and forums. The following information document has been prepared in response to that request. 2. The document presents, in section II, a few cases of environmental pollution or damage, including damage to biological diversity that have been documented or reported to have occurred in areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. Then, section III reviews the geographical scope of some relevant international instruments. In section 4, the document briefly describes some situations where liability for damage suffered in areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction or control of States has actually been raised under relevant international instruments or processes. 3. It should be noted, from the outset, that this document is far from being an exhaustive review of incidents, intern