V.34 The Bureau learned that the Centre has been co-operating with the Fauna and Flora International (FFI), a conservation NGO working with the Governments of the two States Parties, and with Liberia which embraces parts of the Mt Nimba ecosystem. Two meetings to promote dialogue among the three countries, FFI, the Centre and other stakeholders were planned for 2001. The meetings were intended to contribute to the long-term conservation of Mt Nimba by: establishing and encouraging contacts between technical staff, site managers, decision-makers and local community representatives to share information and experience; and increasing harmonised management planning and practices among the three countries sharing the Mt Nimba ecosystem. The two meetings planned for 2001 were seen as forums to bring together various stakeholders, including the private sector, and for promoting international co-operation for the conservation of Mt Nimba. These meetings were also to be linked to the GEF Project that is being elaborated for the conservation of the site with the participation of FFI. Unfortunately, the first meeting, scheduled for the first half of 2001 had to be indefinitely postponed because of instability in the border regions between the three countries. Considerable numbers of refugees fleeing the war in Liberia have entered the ecosystem in Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea and have had direct negative impacts on the biodiversity of Mt Nimba.
V.35 The Bureau expressed serious concerns over the resurgence of a refugee influx into the Mt Nimba Nature Reserve and requested the Centre and IUCN to contact the States Parties, FFI and other partners to ascertain the impacts of refugee activities on the values of the site and ways and means by which those impacts could be mitigated. The Bureau asked the Centre and IUCN to submit a report, based on their findings, to the twenty-fifth session of the Committee in December 2001. In addition, the Bureau requested the Centre to report to the forthcoming session of the Committee on the plans for the organisation of the two stakeholders' meetings in 2001, and the progress achieved in the design and development of the GEF project.