Cooperation with other conventions and international organizations and initiatives

The Conference of the Parties

1. Urges Parties to facilitate cooperation among international organizations, and to promote the integration of biodiversity concerns into all relevant sectors by coordinating their national positions among the various conventions and other international forums in which they are involved, as appropriate;

2. Urges Parties to promote, as appropriate, coordination among national focal points for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity with a view to achieving synergies on cross-cutting activities, and to seek funding from the Global Environment Facility for these activities where appropriate;

3. Underlines the important role of the Joint Liaison Group in supporting cooperation among the Rio conventions;

4. Welcomes the proposed options for enhanced collaboration and joint actions identified in the paper developed jointly by the secretariats of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNEP/CBD/WG-RI/1/7/Add.1);

5. Invites the Joint Liaison Group, in future papers submitted to the Conference of the Parties, to provide an assessment of the obstacles, successes and lessons learned through their collaboration and joint actions, and an indication of the resource implications associated with additional options proposed in this regard;

6. Welcomes the paper developed jointly by the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) and the World Heritage Convention on options for enhanced cooperation among the biodiversity-related conventions (UNEP/CBD/WG-RI/1/7/Add.2), and encourages the liaison group of the biodiversity-related conventions to address concrete elements such as harmonization of national reporting, and applying the provisional framework of goals and targets for evaluating progress towards 2010, and indicators consistent with this framework, across the conventions;

7. Notes the need for enhanced cooperation among the Rio conventions and the biodiversity-related conventions at the level not only of their respective secretariats, but of their respective scientific and technical bodies;

8. Requests the Executive Secretary to secure more resources from the programme support to fund Convention activities, including those related to joint liaison arrangements between the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification at the United Nations Headquarters;

9. Welcomes ongoing cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, particularly the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the International Plant Protection Convention, as well as other FAO processes, on issues related to agriculture, fisheries, forests and other matters;

10. Recognizes the important role and achievements of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests in coordinating and collaborating on forest issues;

11. Welcomes progress made by the Global Partnership on Plant Conservation in promoting the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and expresses its gratitude to Botanic Gardens Conservation International for its continued support to the Partnership;

12. Requests the Executive Secretary, where appropriate, subject to the availability of necessary financial and human resources and in accordance with the priority-setting mechanism established by the Conference of the Parties, to liaise with the conventions, organizations and initiatives with which the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity has already signed memoranda of cooperation with a view to advancing implementation of the Convention in line with the decisions of the Conference of the Parties, including the possibility of developing joint work programmes;

13. Requests the Executive Secretary to liaise with the secretariat of the World Trade Organization on relevant issues, including trade-related intellectual property rights, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and environmental goods and services, inter alia, with a view to identifying options for closer collaboration, including developing a memorandum of cooperation to promote the three objectives of the Convention;

14. Requests the Executive Secretary to liaise with the secretariat of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea;

15. Invites the secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture to join the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions;

16. Welcomes the revised joint work programme with the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (2006-2008) 1 /, and, where countries are party to both conventions, invites national focal points of the Convention on Biological Diversity to undertake relevant activities of the joint work programme in collaboration, as appropriate, with their counterparts for the Convention on Migratory Species, and requests the Executive Secretary to collaborate with the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species to implement the activities identified in the joint work programme.

1 / Endorsed by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species in paragraph 6 of Resolution 8.18: “Integration of migratory species into national biodiversity strategies and action plans and into on-going and future programmes of work under the Convention on Biological Diversity,”