1.Adopts the terms of reference for a full assessment of the amount of funds that are necessary to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition, in accordance with the guidance provided by the Conference of the Parties, in fulfilling their commitments under the Convention for the sixth replenishment period of the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund, as contained in the annex to the present decision;
2.Requests the Executive Secretary to ensure completion of the assessment according to the terms of reference, in time for consideration by the fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention, and subsequently by the Conference of the Parties at its eleventh meeting;
3.Invites Parties to expedite the development of country-specific resource mobilization strategies as part of revised national biodiversity strategies and action plans in response to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, and, for developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition, to identify related national funding priorities, including nationally prioritized funding needs that could be considered as eligible for funding under the financial mechanism specifically for the period July 2014-June 2018;
4.Requests the Executive Secretary to include the consideration of funding needs assessments in relevant regional and subregional workshops in order to facilitate regional and subregional consultations;
5.Decides to transmit to the Global Environment Facility the assessment of the amount of funds, as determined by the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties, that are necessary to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition, in accordance with the guidance provided by the Conference of the Parties, in fulfilling their commitments under the Convention over the sixth GEF replenishment cycle, for consideration by the Global Environment Facility, so that the Facility will in its regular report to the Conference of Parties indicate how it has responded during the replenishment cycle to the previous assessment by the Conference of the Parties.
Annex
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR A FULL ASSESSMENT OF THE AMOUNT OF FUNDS NEEDED FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION FOR THE SIXTH REPLENISHMENT PERIOD OF THE TRUST FUND OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
Objective
1.The objective of the work to be carried out under the present terms of reference is to enable the Conference of the Parties to make an assessment of the amount of funds that are necessary to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition, in accordance with the guidance provided by the Conference of the Parties, in fulfilling their commitments under the Convention over the sixth GEF replenishment cycle, and determine the amount of resources needed, in accordance with Article 21, paragraph 1 and
decision III/8;
Scope
2.The assessment of funding needs for the implementation of the Convention should be comprehensive and primarily directed towards assessing total funding needs required to meet agreed full incremental costs of measures developing country Parties and Parties with economy in transition, in accordance with the guidance provided by the Conference of the Parties, shall implement to fulfil their obligations under the Convention for the period July 2014-June 2018.
Methodology
3.The funding needs assessment should take into account:
(a)Article 20, paragraph 2, and Article 21, paragraph 1, of the Convention, and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;
(b)Guidance to the financial mechanism from the Conference of the Parties which calls for future financial resources;
(c)All obligations under the Convention and relevant decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties;
(d)The information communicated to the Conference of the Parties in the national reports submitted in accordance with Article 26 of the Convention;
(e)Rules and guidelines agreed by the GEF Council for determining eligibility for funding of projects;
(f) National strategies, plans or programmes developed in accordance with Article 6 of the Convention;
(g) National strategies, plans or programmes developed in accordance with Article 6 of the Convention;
(h) Experience gained by those concerned in the implementation of projects, and those responsible for conducting needs assessment reports under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Stockholm Convention;
(i)Experience to date, including limitations and successes of projects funded by the Global Environment Facility, as well as the performance of the Facility and its implementing and executing agencies;
(j)Synergies with other GEF-funded Conventions.
Procedures for implementation
4.Under the authority and with the support of the Conference of the Parties, the Executive Secretary shall contract a team of five experts, with two from developing country Parties, two from developed country Parties, and one from international non-governmental organization, to prepare a report on the full assessment of funding necessary and available for the implementation of the Convention for the period July 2014 to June 2018, in accordance with the above objective and methodology.
5.In preparing the assessment report, the expert team should undertake such interviews, surveys, quantitative and qualitative analyses, and consultation, as may be required, including:
(a)Compilation and analysis of the needs identified in national biodiversity strategies and action plans, including country-specific resource mobilization strategies, prepared by Parties pursuant to Article 6 of the Convention;
(b)Review of reports submitted by Parties pursuant to Article 26 of the Convention to identify funding needs in fulfilment of their obligations under the Convention;
(c)Estimated financial implications of guidance to the financial mechanism from the Conference of the Parties;
(d)Experience to date in the provision of funds by the financial mechanism for each replenishment period;
(e)Additional funding needs for the period July 2014-June 2018 arising out of the national implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;
(f)Compilation and analysis of any supplementary information provided by Parties which are developing countries or countries with economies in transition on their funding needs for the implementation of their obligations under the Convention.
6.The Global Environment Facility and the Executive Secretary should conduct a review of the draft assessment reports of the expert team to ensure accuracy and consistency of approach and data.
7.The Executive Secretary shall strive to ensure that the assessment report of the expert team will be distributed to all Parties one month before the fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention.
8.The fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention should consider the expert teams assessment report and make recommendations for consideration by the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties.
9.The Conference of the Parties at its eleventh meeting will make a decision on the assessment of the amount of funds that are necessary for the implementation of the Convention for the sixth replenishment period of the Trust Fund of the Global Environment Facility, and communicate the results to the Global Environment Facility accordingly.
Consultation process
10.In preparing the assessment report, the expert team should consult widely with all relevant persons and institutions and other relevant sources of information deemed useful.
11.The expert team shall design a questionnaire on funding needs for the period July 2014-June 2018 and circulate it to all Parties to the Convention, and the secretariat, Evaluation Office and agencies of the Global Environment Facility, and include the results in the assessment report.
12.Interviews and consultation meetings should be organized with participation of at least relevant key stakeholders, including major groups of Parties, the Convention Secretariat, as well as the secretariat, Evaluation Office and agencies of the Global Environment Facility
13.As far as possible, the expert team should endeavour to undertake regional and subregional consultations, taking advantage of regional and subregional workshops organized by the secretariats of the Convention and the Global Environment Facility during the study period.
14.The approaches to assessing the funding necessary and available for the implementation of the Convention should be transparent, reliable and replicable, and demonstrate clear incremental cost reasoning in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 2, taking into consideration information gathered from other international funds serving conventions and information submitted by Parties in the application of concept of incremental costs as well as current rules and guidelines of the Global Environment Facility as approved by Council of the Global Environment Facility.
15.The expert team should address additional issues that may be raised by the fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention during its consideration of the assessment report.
