The first session of the ad hoc Open-Ended Working Group on the Science-Policy Panel (OEWG-1.2) is taking place in Bangkok, Thailand, from 30th of January to 3rd of February 2023 with a focus on the Panel’s scope and principal functions. Three IPCP Board Members are in attendance and are providing their daily recaps.
The last day of the OEWG meeting in Bangkok started with a substantial contribution by the IPCP delegation: after the successful presentation by Penny Vlahos in the Latin American group yesterday, Penny Vlahos gave the same presentation in today’s regional meeting of the JUSSCANNZ group (a subgroup of the group of Western European and Other Countries), and Martin Scheringer gave it in the regional meetings of the African group and the Asia-Pacific group. Overall, these presentations were well received; they provided some “tangible” input to the delegates showing what a possible structure of the new panel could look like. This kind of “food for thought” is what scientists can bring as a complement to these negotiations, which are to a large extent governed by political and procedural aspects.
After the regional meetings from 9 to 10 in the morning, the work in the two contact groups continued. There were still several questions regarding scope and objective (contact group 1) and organization of work (contact group 2) that had to be resolved. The status of the discussions was reported to the plenary in the early afternoon, followed by another session of the contact groups and then the final plenary where the report of the OEWG meeting was adopted. A lot of work remains to be done at the next OEWG meetings and in the intersessional periods.
After the presentations in the regional group meetings, the IPCP delegation used this last day for discussions with the Brazilian, Canadian, and Swiss delegations to find out what kind of input would be most useful for their intersessional work. Overall, the OEWG meeting showed a high level of commitment, determination and effort by all the national delegates, but also all the NGOs and civil-society and scientific groups present at the meeting. The work of the non-state actors was coordinated and supported in the format of the “Major Groups” by Laetitia Zobel, UNEP, and Mohamed Abdelraouf, Egypt. As we wrap up our work in Bangkok, the IPCP delegation would like to express special gratitude to “IPEN and friends” for their coordination with other observers, collaborative spirit, and excellent organization of the group’s workflow.
Longer daily reports prepared by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Earth Negotiations Bulletin are available at: https://enb.iisd.org/oewg1-2-science-policy-panel-contribute-further-sound-management-chemicals-waste-prevent-pollution