ABSTRACT
The initial debate about what finally emerged as the ‘financial mechanism’ of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety was subject to much controversy and disagreement. A number of developing-country participants requested a clause calling for financial resources from the financial mechanism for ‘capacity-building and for the promotion and safe use of biotechnology and, upon request, for the capacity to develop and implement programmes in the areas of risk assessment and risk management’. The text for negotiation was contained in a document entitled ‘Draft Negotiating Text Agreement’, and the article on the financial mechanism was listed as Article 29. The ‘new and additional’ is frequently used in discussions on financial issues in various environmental agreements. Under the financial provisions of these agreements, donor countries agree to provide financial resources that are separate from their traditional bilateral or official development assistance in order to enable developing countries to meet their commitments to the agreement in question.
