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.
Today was the day of contact groups. The contact group on the scope and objective of the new science-policy panel continued its work commenced yesterday, and in addition a second contact group on the organization of the OEWG’s work from now to the second and third OEWG meetings was established; these meetings are tentatively scheduled for late 2023 or early 2024 (OEWG-2) and for June 2024 (OEWG-3). During a brief plenary session in the early afternoon, the results from the first contact group (scope and objective) were reported to the plenary and it was decided to continue the work of this contact group. In addition, it was decided that the second contact group on the organization of work should be established. The meeting Chair tried to avoid two parallel contact groups, but due to time constraints, it was necessary to hold them in parallel.
The contact group on scope and objective worked in the morning and in the late afternoon and evening on text describing the scope and objective of the panel. The member states made many suggestions for the text, which led to a somewhat challenging situation for the chairs, David Kapindula (Zambia) and Marine Collignon (France), because it was not easy to find a common ground. It became obvious that many member states had different opinions and ideas about how the scope and objective of the panel should be described. In terms of substance, the opinions were probably not so different, but it took the contact group the whole day to narrow down the range of descriptions of the scope and objective of the panel. The discussions continued until late in the evening.
The second contact group, organization of work, was chaired by Jinhui Li (China) and Ana Berejiani (Georgia). The first part of the discussions covered the time and location of OEWG-2 and OEWG-3, and the funding of these two meetings. The schedule of the OEWG’s work programme is very tight and it is not easy to find sufficient funding and a venue for OEWG-2. OEWG-3 will be hosted by Switzerland in Geneva on 17–21 June 2024. At the end of the contact group session today, several of these organizational questions were still open. The contact group also discussed how the work required by the UNEA resolution 5/8 should be organized in the coming 18 months. Different structures and formats were discussed, also with the head of the OEWG secretariat, Kevin Helps, who was in the room. Because no solutions could be found in the time available, a smaller group of member states and the secretariat entered informal consultations about the way forward. The plan is to decide which parts of the work can be carried out in the intersessional period between now and OEWG-2, which parts should be handled at OEWG-2, and which parts can remain for the last intersessional period and for OEWG-3.
For member state delegates, the long sessions of the contact groups were demanding and challenging; for observers, they were difficult in a different way because observers could not contribute to the work, but just had to follow the deliberations. It was exhausting for everyone, but also interesting to observe how the delegates paved their way through the many open questions.
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
Read our next IPCP Bangkok daily briefing: https://www.ipcp.ch/news/ipcp-bangkok-briefings-day-four-oewg-1-2-meeting