1.Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to continue implementing decisions VIII/10 and X/12 and to focus its work on the scientific and technical aspects of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the multi-year programme of work, as a means to improve its effectiveness, and to report on its work to each future meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
2.Recalls its
decision X/13 regarding the established procedure for including new and emerging issues in the agenda of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice;
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3.Notes the role of the peer-review process for Subsidiary Body documents in mobilizing scientific communities and strengthening quality of those documents;
4.Recognizes the role of regional, subregional and national centres with scientific expertise relevant to the implementation of the objectives of the Convention;
5.Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to provide additional resources for the translation, as appropriate, of scientific and technical documents, including CBD Technical Series and executive summaries of information documents prepared for meetings of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice into the official languages of the United Nations;
6.Invites Parties and relevant organizations to facilitate side-events and roundtables, including on new and emerging issues, so as to provide relevant, balanced and best available scientific and technical evidence and/or information for consideration by Subsidiary Body focal points at meetings of the Subsidiary Body;
7.Further invites Parties and relevant organizations to support the elaboration of the reference manual for guidance to Subsidiary Body focal points, Bureau members and delegates referred to in
decision X/12, paragraph 4, including translation into United Nations official languages;
8.Welcomes the contribution of the Consortium of Scientific Partners in providing scientific and technical support to the Subsidiary Body;
9.Invites the Consortium of Scientific Partners and other organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature and its commissions to support implementation of activities mentioned in paragraphs 6 and 7 above;
10.Noting the report on progress and suggestions for further actions in response to decision X/12 (
UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/15/15, table 2),
requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources, to:
(a)Develop training materials for Convention focal points taking into consideration the assessment of needs compiled by the Executive Secretary from responses to notification SCBD/STTM/JM/JW/ac/76271 and the capacity-needs assessment of the Liaison Group on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation;
(b)Prepare background documents, whenever feasible, to accompany notifications to Subsidiary Body focal points requesting input and information;
(c)Continue to include, in each pre-session document prepared for the Subsidiary Body, a list of relevant elements of the Strategic Plan;
(d)Continue to explore options for closer collaboration among the relevant bureaus of the biodiversity related conventions through the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions and the Chairs of the Scientific Advisory Bodies of Biodiversity-Related Conventions;
(e)Provide information notes on relevant items on the agenda of the Subsidiary Body to the chairs of the subsidiary bodies of the other biodiversity-related multilateral conventions and attend meetings of those bodies, when feasible;
(f)Maintain, through the Convention"s website, a table with an updated list of requests from the Conference of the Parties to the Subsidiary Body and links to relevant sections of the Convention website, and circulate such an updated list to the Bureau of the Subsidiary Body prior to each meeting for its consideration and guidance.
Recalling its decisions
VIII/9,
IX/15,
X/2 and
X/11, and
emphasizing that regular assessments are needed at multiple scales to provide decision-makers with the necessary information base for adaptive management and to promote the necessary political will for action in addressing biodiversity loss, the degradation of ecosystems and ecosystem services and the implications thereof for human well-being,
Recalling that the function of the Subsidiary Body, as set out in Article
25 of the Convention, is to provide the Conference of the Parties, and, as appropriate, its other subsidiary bodies, with timely advice relating to the implementation of the Convention, including providing scientific and technical assessments of the status of biological diversity and of the effects of the types of measures taken in accordance with the provisions of the Convention,
Reaffirming the need to strengthen the ability of the Subsidiary Body to deliver advice in this regard,
Stressing the need to support the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities in the work of the Subsidiary Body,
1.Noting the assessment of the effectiveness of the Subsidiary Body in meeting its mandate, contained in section II and annex II of the note by the Executive Secretary on ways and means to improve the effectiveness of the Subsidiary Body (
UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/2),
requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of the necessary resources to:
(a)Prepare information relating to:
(i)Scientific and technical needs related to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets;
(ii)Existing policy support tools and methodologies developed or used under the Convention and their adequacy, impact and obstacles to their uptake, and identify gaps and needs for further development of such tools and methodologies;
(iii)The adequacy of observations, and of data systems, for monitoring the biodiversity attributes addressed in the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, drawing,
inter alia, upon information in the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (
UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/15/INF/6) and the report on the adequacy of biodiversity observation systems to support the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (
UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/15/INF/8);
(iv)Options for assessing the effects of the types of measures taken in accordance with the provisions of the Convention;
(b)Report on progress on the above matters to a meeting of the Subsidiary Body prior to the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
2.Requests the Subsidiary Body, on the basis of its analysis of the report on progress on the matters referred to in paragraph 1 (b), to identify scientific and technical needs related to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to report thereon to the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting.
1.Welcomes the establishment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in Panama City on 21 April 2012, and the outcomes of the plenary meeting to determine modalities and institutional arrangements for this Platform;
2.Welcomes in particular the provision for the Chair of the Subsidiary Body to participate as an observer in the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel, in order to promote communication and synergies between the Subsidiary Body and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform, and requests the Chair of the Subsidiary Body, subject to the availability of resources, toparticipate as an observer in the Platform Multidisciplinary Expert Panel, to reinforce linkages between the Convention and the Platform;
3.Recalling
decision X/2,
considers that the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets provide a useful flexible framework for the delivery of the biodiversity agenda at all levels and
invites the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to consider how its work plan can contribute to their achievement;
4.Requests the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to consider ways in which the activities of the Platform could, as appropriate:
(a)Build on, and contribute to, the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook;
(b)Contribute to assessments of the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets; and
(c)Provide information on policy options available to deliver the 2050 Vision of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;
5.Decides that the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, at its seventeenth meeting, should, as an interim activity on the relationship between the Convention and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform, provide additional explanatory information on requests referred to in paragraph 4 above and convey this information to IPBES;
6.Decides that the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, at its eighteenth meeting, taking into account the further development of the procedures and work programme of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, should develop recommendations, for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting, as to how the Convention, and in particular the Subsidiary Body, should collaborate with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, by:
(a)Identifying scientific and technical needs related to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 that could be considered by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services; and
(b)Considering relevant outputs from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and taking them into account and complement them with further work as needed in its recommendations to the Conference of the Parties;
7.Requests the Executive Secretary to explore options for formalizing collaboration with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and to report to the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting.
