Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and Their Habitats

In order to cater to the specific requirements of the Gorilla Agreement, while taking advantage of the substantive discussions planned for the GRASP Council, the following structure was followed for the meeting: MOP4 was opened in the early morning of 11 December to undertake two hours of formal business of the Gorilla Agreement after which all delegates of both meetings attended the joint session. [...] The GRASP Council accepted the recommendation as contained in the GRASP Review to only consider the option of the GRASP Secretariat hosting the Gorilla Agreement Secretariat once the other actions proposed in the Review were successfully implemented and if and when that point is reached, to conduct an independent study on the implications of adding the Gorilla Agreement to the responsibilities of. [...] The Interim Secretariat agreed that following the Meeting it would provide to the Parties and the GVTC an explanation of the legal and operational steps to be taken for the move of the Secretariat of the Gorilla Agreement from the CMS Secretariat to the GVTC. [...] On the institutional arrangements of the Agreement, and in follow-up to the discussion under Agenda Item 30 the Parties decided to request the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species to remain the Interim Secretariat of the Agreement and to submit this request to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species at its 14th meeting. [...] The Meeting took note of the dire situation of the status of Parties’ annual contributions to the Agreement, and there was consensus that Parties need to start contributing regularly and as agreed through the resolutions of the Meetings of the Parties.