By Notification 2014/023, the Parties to the Gorilla Agreement were informed of the CMS Standing Committee’s recommendation “to postpone MOP3 until further notice.” In line with the draft proposal described below for cooperation between the Great Apes Survival Project Partnership (GRASP) and the CMS Gorilla Agreement, the CMS Secretariat, functioning as the interim secretariat for the Gorilla Agreement, suggests holding MOP3 back-to-back with the 3^rd GRASP Council meeting tentatively scheduled for November 2016 in Indonesia.

Since its entry into force in 2008, the CMS Gorilla Agreement has experienced funding challenges, with only three Parties having partially paid their annual assessed contributions. This has resulted in weak implementation of the Agreement. At the same time, partners of GRASP have made excellent efforts with the implementation of their objectives, which greatly overlap with those of the CMS Gorilla Agreement.

Articles VII (d) and IX (b) of the Gorilla Agreement state that the Secretariat shall “liaise with […] international and national organizations, the activities of which are directly or indirectly relevant to the conservation, including protection and management, of gorillas” and “shall consult the secretariats of other pertinent conventions and international instruments in respect of matters of common interest, including Great Apes Survival Project Partnership (GRASP)”.

In light of the overlapping objectives of GRASP and the CMS Gorilla Agreement, the complementarity of the two bodies and in the interest of pooling limited resources, a proposal has been prepared by the CMS Secretariat in collaboration with the GRASP Secretariat for the two bodies to cooperate closely in a number of areas. A detailed draft proposal is attached to this notification, which was greatly welcomed by the 10^th Executive Committee Meeting of GRASP in September 2015, as can be seen in the attached Meeting Report.

With this notification, the CMS Secretariat invites Parties to comment on the draft proposal for cooperation and, in particular, the proposal to hold MOP3 back-to-back with the 3^rd GRASP Council meeting. A thorough discussion of the full draft proposal for cooperation between GRASP and the CMS Gorilla Agreement will be scheduled for the first day of MOP3, unless an earlier opportunity can be identified by the Secretariat. Parties are invited to provide their comments by 31 January 2016. If no response is received by that date, the Secretariat will proceed as suggested.

For additional information please contact the Secretariat, at [email protected]