Presentation to the UNFCCC SBI in-session workshop ─ on how to further develop ways to enhance the engagement of observer organizations. Felix reminded those at the workshop anout the report Stakeholder Forum had produced called 'Stakeholder Empowerment Project' which reviewed stakeholder engagement in Aahaus Convention, UNCTAD, UNEP, UN CSD, UNAIDS and UN Commission on Crime and Drugs. The report made a number of recommendations which he drew on.

Felix identified:

The  reason why people come to any conference is a multitude of reasons:

The secretariat is vastly under resourced to deal with the number of observers and the services that they have

That other Conventions such as Aarhus allow NGOs on the Bureau .

That in some processes such as Habitat 2 NGOs were allowed to enter text into the negotiations and if a government supported it, it became an alive text.

In process such as Rio+5 – a UN GA process stakeholders were allowed to speak in the informals and contact groups a the discretion of the chair