Guidance to the financial mechanism

The Conference of the Parties,

Bearing in mind Articles 20 and 21,

Taking note of the report of the Global Environment Facility as contained in the document UNEP/CBD/COP/8/10,

Recalling the relevant provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its decisions I/2, II/6, III/5, III/8, IV/11, IV/13, V/12, V/13, VI/16, VI/17 and VII/20,

1. Decides to adopt the updated list of developed country Parties and other Parties that voluntarily assume the obligations of developed country Parties in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 2 of the Convention, as contained in the annex to the present decision;

2. Requests the Global Environment Facility, as the institutional structure to operate the financial mechanism of the Convention, to include in its regular report to the Conference of the Parties information on:

(a) The initial application of the Resource Allocation Framework to resources allocated in the fourth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility that is operational from July 2006, focusing on the biodiversity focal area;

(b) How the Resource Allocation Framework is likely to affect funding available to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for the implementation of their commitments under the Convention;

3. Urges the Global Environment Facility to further simplify and streamline its procedures, in consideration of the special conditions within developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and the small island developing States as referred to in paragraphs 5 and 6 of Article 20 as well as those conditions within Parties with economies in transition;

4. Urges the Global Environment Facility to develop responses to the capacity and access challenges faced by the small island developing States, the least developed countries and the less developed countries with economies in transition, as identified in the third Overall Performance Study of the Global Environment Facility;

5. Invites the third Assembly of the Global Environment Facility to include in its high-level political discussions the opportunities and challenges of the GEF in its role as financial mechanism for the Convention;

6. Requests the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Parties, to explore opportunities for streamlining the guidance provided to the Global Environment Facility taking into account the framework for goals and targets in decision VII/30 as well as indicators for assessing progress toward the achievement of the 2010 target and to present the results to the Conference of the Parties through the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of the Implementation of the Convention;

7. Requests the Global Environment Facility to consult with the Executive Secretary in relevant review processes undertaken by the Global Environment Facility that affect the financial mechanism of the Convention;

8. Decides to provide the following additional guidance to the Global Environment Facility in the provision of financial resources, in accordance with, Article 20 and Article 21 paragraph 1 of the Convention and in conformity with decisions I/2, II/6, III/5, IV/13, V/13, VI/17 and VII/20 of the Conference of the Parties;

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

9. Requests the Global Environment Facility to provide an assurance that the introduction of the Resource Allocation Framework will not in any way jeopardize eligible Parties’ access to funding for biosafety-related activities including regional activities where appropriate;

10. Requests the Global Environment Facility to base their allocation of resources to support the implementation of the Protocol on country needs and priorities, and as a priority to support the establishment of a base level of capacity in all eligible developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and the small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition;

11. Urges the Global Environment Facility to support in-country, regional and subregional stock-taking studies to enable:

(a) The better planning and customizing of future assistance to the respective needs of eligible countries, given the fact that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to biosafety has been demonstrated to be inappropriate;

(b) The identification of clear and realistic targets;

(c) The identification and provision of technical and adequately experienced expertise for the implementation of national biosafety frameworks;

(d) The development of effective coordination which facilitates the support, ownership and involvement of all relevant national ministries and authorities, to ensure synergy and continuity;

12. Requests the Global Environment Facility to support:

(a) The provision of longer-term support for building, consolidating and enhancing sustainable human resource capacity in risk assessment and risk management, and also in developing detection techniques for identifying living modified organisms;

(b) Awareness-raising, public participation and information sharing, including through the Biosafety Clearing-House;

(c) Coordination and harmonization of national biosafety frameworks at regional and subregional levels, where appropriate;

(d) Sustainable national participation in the Biosafety Clearing-House, including capacity‑building, to take into account the need for Parties to be able to provide summary information in the common formats for reporting information (particularly keywords for categorizing records) in an official language of the United Nations to enable registration of such information with the Central Portal;

(e) Transfer and joint development of technology in risk assessment, risk management, monitoring and detection of living modified organisms;

(f) Development and implementation of national biosafety frameworks;

(g) Development of technical, financial, and human capacity including postgraduate education, biosafety-related laboratories and relevant equipment;

(h) Implementation of the revised Action Plan for Building Capacities for the Effective Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety;

(i) Facilitation of the consultative information-gathering process leading to the preparation of national reports under the Protocol for those developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition, which lack sufficient capacity in this regard;

13. Invites the Global Environment Facility, developed country Parties and Governments, as well as relevant organizations to take into account the revised Action Plan for Building Capacities for the Effective Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and increase their financial and technical support to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for its implementation;

Island biodiversity

14. Requests the Global Environment Facility and its Implementing Agencies to recognize the programme of work on island biodiversity and its relevance to developing countries, and in particular least developed countries and small island developing States, and to provide support for its implementation;

15. Requests the Global Environment Facility to further simplify their procedures so as to take into account the special circumstances of small island developing States in implementing the programme of work on island biodiversity;

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

16. Invites the Global Environment Facility, in coordination with the Executive Secretary, to identify gaps and needs in relation to existing financial resources, until 2010, to meet the unprecedented additional efforts needed to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss and maintain the provision of ecosystem goods and services;

17. Encourages Parties and other Governments to conduct national and other sub-global assessments making use of the conceptual framework and methodologies of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, as appropriate, and invites the Global Environment Facility and bilateral and multilateral funding organizations, as appropriate, to provide funding for these assessments;

Implementation of the Convention

18. Invites the Global Environment Facility to provide information on its contribution and experience regarding the implementation of goals 2 and 3 of the Strategic Plan;

19. Invites the Global Environment Facility and bilateral and multilateral funding organizations to provide funding for the review and update of national biodiversity strategies and action plans;

Technology transfer and cooperation

20. Invites the Global Environmental Facility to provide financial support to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for the implementation of the programme of work;

Global Initiative on Communication, Education and Public Awareness

21. Urges the Global Environment Facility and other bilateral and multilateral institutions to make available the necessary financial resources especially for developing countries, particularly the least developed and small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to implement the identified Communication, Education and Public Awareness priority activities at national and regional levels in support of biodiversity strategies and action plans and any other information, education, and communication awareness strategies;

National reporting

22. Invites the Global Environment Facility and other bilateral and multilateral financial instruments as appropriate, to provide financial support to eligible Parties for the preparation of their fourth national reports, in a timely fashion and preferably no later than 1 January 2007;

23. Further invites the Global Environment Facility to explore and establish easier and expeditious mechanisms for the provision of funds to eligible countries for preparing their future national reports;

Global Taxonomy Initiative

24. Requests the Global Environment Facility to continue to support the implementation of the planned activities contained in the programme of work on the Global Taxonomy Initiative, including taxonomic needs assessments, projects with a taxonomic focus or clearly identified taxonomic components, and regional activities on taxonomic capacity development and access to technology;

25. Further requests the Global Environment Facility to provide financial resources to developing countries, in particular the small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, for projects which help to establish and operationalize their national focal points for the Global Taxonomy Initiative, as well as financial resources to support capacity-building activities such as, inter alia, taxonomic training related to specific taxa and information technologies;

26. Requests the secretariats of the Convention and the Global Environment Facility to conduct a joint analysis of funded projects related to the Global Taxonomy Initiative and relevant project information contained in national reports, including analysis of the resources directed specifically to capacity-building, with a view to extracting best practices and sharing information and experience in promoting financial support for the Initiative;

Invasive alien species

27. Notes the need for the provision of additional funding by the financial mechanism of the Convention to support capacity-building for developing countries, in particular the least developed and small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to prevent or minimize the risks of the dispersal and establishment of invasive alien species at the national, subregional, or regional levels;

 Protected areas

28. Invites the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme and other Implementing Agencies of the Global Environment Facility, along with other relevant organizations, to help facilitate and financially support the protected-area financing roundtables referred to in paragraph 18 (a) of decision VIII/24, on protected areas, in accordance with their mandates;

29. Invites the Global Environment Facility:

(a) To support early action activities of the programme of work, taking into account the identified national needs at a scale to sufficiently support developing countries, particularly the least developed and small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition;

(b) To support national and regional systems of protected areas taking into account the targets and timetables in the programme of work;

(c) To maintain the proportion of funding for protected areas in the biodiversity envelop of the business plan of the fourth phase of the Global Environment Facility, taking into account the goals and targets in the programme of work and the niche of the Global Environment Facility in providing system-wide protected-areas support;

(d) To review and revise, as appropriate, its protected areas’ policies in relation to indigenous and local communities; and

(e) To support community conserved areas, ensuring the immediate, full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in the development of relevant activities;

30. Invites the Implementing Agencies of the Global Environment Facility to treat requests for access to funding for the projects mentioned in 29 (a) and (b) above in an expeditious manner.

Annex

UPDATED LIST OF DEVELOPED COUNTRY PARTIES AND OTHER PARTIES THAT VOLUNTARILY ASSUME THE OBLIGATIONS OF DEVELOPED COUNTRY PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (2006)