The Secretariat regrets having to inform Parties of the postponement of the Third Meeting of Parties to the Gorilla Agreement (GA MOP3) to 2017.

This follows the announcement by the Secretariat of the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) of 22 September 2016, informing Partners that “the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which physically hosts the GRASP Secretariat, is currently revising its Biodiversity commitments and it was felt the process could impact the GRASP Council agenda.”

Since the GA MOP3 was to be held together with the third meeting of the GRASP Council (Notifications 2014/023 (Gorilla Agreement: New Party, New Action Plan and Postponement of Third Meeting of Parties), 2015/030 (Tentative Location for Third Gorilla Agreement Meeting of Parties and Proposal for Cooperation between GRASP and the CMS Gorilla Agreement) and 2016/021(Dates of the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Gorilla Agreement and submission of implementation reports by Parties to the Gorilla Agreement), the CMS Secretariat had to follow this decision.

This is an Amendment to Notifications 2016/015 and 2016/021.