8th Session of the Meeting of the Parties to AEWA (MOP8) Postponed to 2022

Bonn, 19 August 2021 – The 8th Session of the Meeting of the Parties to AEWA (MOP8) will be postponed to 2022, as recently decided by the AEWA Standing Committee.

MOP8 was scheduled to take place on 5 – 9 October 2021 in the framework of the ‘One with Nature’ exhibition in Budapest at the kind invitation of the Government of Hungary. The dates and venue had been confirmed by the Standing Committee at its extraordinary meeting on 28 July 2021. A thorough risk analysis of the situation in the follow up, however, has identified several difficulties for Contracting Parties, especially those from Africa, regarding their safe departure and travel to Budapest under the pandemic circumstances. After further discussions the Standing Committee therefore concluded that the risk of only being able to welcome very few delegates from the region of Africa in Budapest is extremely high and would undermine the effectiveness of negotiations and the principles of collaboration and inclusivity which are central to AEWA. In order to increase the chances of holding this meeting face-to-face, as wished by many Parties in their responses to the questionnaire on MOP8, it was further concluded that it should be postponed to next year. The Secretariat is now, together with the Government of Hungary, examining the possibility of holding events in the margins of the international exhibition.

The Standing Committee and the Secretariat have expressed their sincere appreciation to the Government of Hungary for the efforts undertaken by the Government’s representatives to find a way to host the meeting during this very difficult year, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

For more details, please contact the Secretariat at aewa.secretariat@unep-aewa.org

Last updated on 19 August 2021

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