Norway

Norway contributed actively to the negotiation of the convention and has played an active role in efforts to improve the scientific basis for implementing decisions under the Convention on Biological Diversity. From the very beginning, Norway was of the view that the protocol should be broad in scope and cover all living modified organisms with potentially adverse effects on biodiversity and human health. For Biosafety Working Group meeting-2 Norway prepared a draft legal text for a protocol, the only draft protocol text at that stage, together with the Ethiopian one on behalf of the African region. Up to Cartagena Norway had a quite independent role. In Cartagena the Compromise Group was established after a proposal from Switzerland. The draft text, agreed to by other Compromise Group countries, served almost verbatim as the chair’s ‘non-paper’ which was presented at the resumed extraordinary meeting of the Conference of Parties in January 2000.