National reporting
and the next Global Biodiversity Outlook
The Conference of the Parties
1. Recognizes the need to align the national reporting process with
the framework for evaluating implementation of the Convention and progress
towards the 2010 target;
2. Underscores the need to reduce overall reporting burdens on Parties,
taking into account reporting obligations under other Conventions, and other
relevant processes;
3. Decides that the fourth and subsequent national reports should
be outcome‑oriented and focus on the national status and trends of biodiversity,
national actions and outcomes with respect to the achievement of the 2010 target
and the goals of the Strategic Plan of the Convention, and progress in implementation
of national biodiversity strategies and action plans;
4. Decides that Parties shall submit their fourth national reports
by 30 March 2009;
5. Invites Parties that anticipate that they may encounter difficulty
in completing their reports according to the date set by the Conference of
the Parties to advise the Secretariat in advance;
6. Recommends that regional and/or subregional workshops could facilitate
the preparation and where necessary the updating of national biodiversity strategies
and action plans and national reports, and the exchange of experiences on implementation
of national biodiversity strategies and action plans and on assessment of obstacles
for the implementation of the Convention to achieve the objectives of paragraph
3 above ;
7. 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;
8. 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;
9. Invites Parties, on a voluntary basis, to provide information,
additional to that submitted in national reports, which could be useful for
the in-depth review of the thematic programmes foreseen in the multi-year programme
of work of the Conference of the Parties up to 2010, according to the schedule
in the annex to the present decision;
10. Decides to establish an on-line facility to support national reporting,
through the clearing-house mechanism, for use by Parties on a voluntary basis
as a planning tool;
11. Decides that the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook
shall be prepared for publication at the tenth meeting of the Conference of
the Parties in 2010;
12. Agrees to base its review of the implementation of the Convention
at its tenth meeting primarily on the basis of the third and fourth national
reports as well as on the analysis in the third edition of the Global Biodiversity
Outlook and other relevant reports;
13. Welcomes the initiative of the five biodiversity-related conventions,
through the Liaison Group of the Biodiversity-related Conventions, to:
(a) Keep each other informed of proposed developments in national reporting
under each of the conventions, with a view to aligning approaches where possible;
(b) Develop a Web portal with links to reports and guidelines of each of
the conventions, similar to the Collaborative Portal on Forests;
(c) Develop common reporting modules for specific themes, where possible,
and appropriate;
14. Takes note of the recommendations from the Workshop Towards the
Harmonization of National Reporting to Biodiversity-related Treaties, organized
by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP-WCMC) and held in September 2004 (UNEP/CBD/WG‑RI/1/INF/6),
and encourages the Liaison Group of the Biodiversity-related Conventions,
in liaison with UNEP-WCMC and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, to
give further consideration to issues of harmonization of reporting among the
biodiversity-related conventions, and to develop proposals thereon;
15. Encourages Parties to harmonize the gathering and management of
data for the biodiversity-related conventions at the national level, where
appropriate;
16. Urges Parties that have not submitted their third national report
to do so expeditiously;
17. Welcomes the draft guidelines for the fourth national report (UNEP/CBD/COP/8/24,
annex) as a significant improvement over the guidelines for the third national
report and requests the Executive Secretary to further improve the guidelines
in line with the guidance provided by the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on
Review of Implementation of the Convention in annex II to its recommendation
I/9, taking into account also the views expressed at the eighth meeting of
the Conference of the Parties and written submissions from Parties received
by the end of June 2006, and to make the finalized guidelines available to
Parties by the end of July 2006;
18. Further requests the Executive Secretary to:
(a) Review the process, outcome and impact of the second edition of the Global
Biodiversity Outlook as well as lessons learned from its preparation, and develop
proposals on the scope and format of the third edition of the Global Biodiversity
Outlook and the organization of preparatory work, by making appropriate use
of the third and fourth national reports, global indicators for the 2010 target
and other relevant global and regional assessment initiatives, for the consideration
of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and/or
the Working Group on Review of Implementation, as appropriate, prior to the
ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
(b) Prepare an updated synthesis of information contained in the third national
reports, and a strategic analysis that identifies barriers to implementation
and options for overcoming those barriers, and make these available through
the clearing-house mechanism;
(c) Make available a sample fourth national report for use by Parties on
a voluntary basis;
(d) Enhance the facilitation of support to Parties, and promote capacity
building for the preparation of national reports, in cooperation with relevant
international organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme,
the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank, and drawing upon
national expertise, consistent with decision VIII/8;
(e) Organize regional training workshops with a view to promote best practices
and exchange of experience in the preparation of fourth national reports in
conjunction with relevant meetings of the Conference of the Parties.
Annex
SCHEDULE FOR VOLUNTARY PROVISION OF COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION ON THEMATIC
PROGRAMMES 1 /
Thematic area 2 / |
In-depth review |
Date due for
review |
By COP |
By SBSTTA /3 |
Forest biodiversity |
COP-9 |
SBSTTA-12 |
September 2006 |
Agricultural biodiversity |
COP-9 |
SBSTTA-13 |
March 2007 |
Inland waters biodiversity |
COP-10 |
SBSTTA-14 |
July 2008 |
Mountain biodiversity |
COP-10 |
SBSTTA-14 |
July 2008 |
Marine and coastal biodiversity |
COP-10 |
SBSTTA-15 |
March 2009 |
Island biodiversity |
t.b.d. |
t.b.d. |
t.b.d. |
1 Additional complementary reports on cross-cutting issues may be considered.
2 The dry and sub-humid lands programme of work will be reviewed at the eighth
meeting of the Conference of the Parties.