Clearing-House Mechanism

CHM Award

Introduction

In decision XII/2 B, paragraph 15, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity requested the Executive Secretary to propose, in collaboration with the informal advisory committee to the clearing-house mechanism (CHM-IAC), a process to grant, at the 13th, 14th, 15th meetings of the Conference of the Parties, subject to the availability of resources, an award to the Parties that have made the most significant progress in the establishment or further development of their national clearing-house mechanisms.

In decision 15/16, paragraph 9, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity requested the Executive Secretary to continue the process of granting awards for national clearing-house mechanisms until 2030

Best Practices

At its meeting in December of 2016 on the margins of COP13 in Mexico, the CHM-IAC requested the Secretariat to “analyze the information provided by Parties having responded to the questionnaires sent on the CHM award with a view to preparing case studies on national CHMs with some best practices, lessons learned or success stories, taking into account feedback from the jury”.

Based on the outcomes of the first CHM Awards process the following “best practices” have been prepared.

  • COP 16
  • COP 15
  • COP 14
  • COP 13

CHM Awards at COP 16

The CHM-Awards Ceremony will take place at COP 16, in Cali, Colombia.

Participation in the Award

Modalities

Purpose
The purpose of the Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM) Award is to formally recognize Parties that have made the most significant progress in the establishment or further development of their national clearing-house mechanism including its portal (website) and governance and institutional processes. The award includes a trophy and a certificate signed by the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Participation
All Parties are eligible to participate in the award process by completing and submitting the questionnaire.

Assessment and selection

A jury will be established by the Executive Secretary to assess the submissions and identify the winners across the different categories. The jury will comprise up to four panel members, including members from the Informal Advisory Group on Technical and Scientific Cooperation, to guide and aid the selection process. Each submission will be assessed based on the following criteria:

Aspects Criteria
CHM governance and management
  • Strategy and roadmap to maintain and improve the national CHM
  • Clear institutional roles and responsibilities for the national CHM
  • Dedicated resources (staff, funding, etc.) for the national CHM
  • Coordination committee
  • Level of national collaboration
  • Degree to which technical and scientific cooperation is facilitated
  • System(s) in place to mobilize/gather information from various sources
CHM portal/website management
  • Features and functionality of the portal
  • Number of active contributors
  • Use of biodiversity related taxonomies, terminology and metadata
  • System(s) in place to gather and analyze statistics (based on reports provided)
  • Interoperability with other national and global websites/databases.
  • Content approval workflow
Content Type and amount of information on:
  • Biodiversity in the country
  • Progress towards national and/or Global Biodiversity Framework targets
  • Corresponding implementation activities in the country
  • National and applicable regional legislation
  • Regional or international cooperation, collaboration, and networking
  • Scientific and technical references
  • Case studies, assessments, reports
  • News and events
  • Links to other national websites

Categories of awards
The award will have the following three categories (there can be more than one winner per category):
  1. The gold award for the winner.

  2. The silver award for the second position.

  3. The bronze award for the third position.

CHM Awards at COP 15

The CHM-Awards Ceremony has taken place on 18th December 2022 at Palais des Congrès, Montréal, Canada.

The award ceremony was presided over by the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema.

CHM Award COP 15 Podium

CHM Award COP 15 trophies

CHM Award COP 15 general view of participation

CHM Award COP 15 youtube recording

The following Parties were granted a CHM Award at COP 15:

Existing CHM Category

New National CHM Category
  • 1st  France - Gold Award
  • 2nd - ex-aequo  Belgium - Silver Award
  • 2nd - ex-aequo  Bhutan - Silver Award
  • 2nd - ex-aequo  Burundi - Silver Award

Certificates of Achievement at COP 15

A Certificate of Achievement was presented to the following Parties at COP 15:

Existing National CHM Category

New National CHM Category

CHM Awards at COP 14

The following Parties were granted a CHM Award at COP 14:


Existing National CHM Category
  1.  Burundi - Gold Award
  2.  Colombia - Silver Award
  3.  Morocco - Bronze Award

New National CHM Category
  1.  Indonesia - Gold Award
  2.  Sri Lanka - Silver Award
  3.  Guinea-Bissau - Bronze Award

Certificates of Achievement at COP 14

A Certificate of Achievement was presented to the following Parties at COP 14:

Existing National CHM Category

CHM Awards at COP 13

The following Parties were granted a CHM Award at COP 13:

CHM Award Winners at COP 13
Existing National CHM Category
  1.  Mexico - Gold Award
  2.  Australia - Silver Award
  3.  Belgium - Bronze Award

New National CHM Category
  1.  Malaysia - Gold Award
  2.  Guatemala - Silver Award
  3.  Kenya - Bronze Award

Certificates of Achievement at COP 13

A Certificate of Achievement was presented to the following Parties at COP 13:

Existing National CHM Category

New National CHM Category

Process

CHM Award Trophies at COP 13 The process consisted of the following steps: