Eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Claudia McMurray will lead the U.S. delegation to the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Curitiba, Brazil. The high level segment of the meeting takes place March 26-29, 2006.

Claudia McMurray was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs on February 21, 2006. Prior to holding this leadership position, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Environment. She joined the Department from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she served as Associate Deputy Administrator and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Administrator.

The primary U.S. objective at the conference in Brazil is to advance the new initiative by the United States to build a Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (CAWT) to fight wildlife crime worldwide. The U.S. will also seek to help the Parties to the Convention develop a pragmatic and effective program of work on island biodiversity; to emphasize science-based decision making in all aspects of biodiversity conservation; and to improve the practical application of the Convention's existing voluntary guidelines on access to genetic resources.

There are 189 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was opened for signature at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and entered into force in December 1993. The U.S. signed the treaty in June 1993. Request for Senate advice and consent to ratification was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1994 and the treaty remains before the Senate. U.S. representatives participate as observers at Conferences of the Parties and meetings of the Convention's subsidiary scientific body.

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