SBSTTA Recommendation

. Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

`XIX/4.`Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice,

Recalling decision XI/3 and paragraph 20(b) of decision XII/1,

1.Welcomes the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 ¹ and thanks the European Union and the Governments of Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for their financial support;

2.Takes note of the proposed list of generic and specific indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 identified by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group and contained in the annex to the report of its meeting;1

3.Notes that indicators may be used for a variety of purposes at the national, regional and global levels, including:

(a)Informing and supporting decision-making;

(b)Communicating with policymakers and other stakeholders, including those unfamiliar with the Strategic Plan;

(c)Mainstreaming the Aichi Biodiversity Targets within other international processes, including, in particular, the Sustainable Development Goals, by facilitating the integration of biodiversity in other processes through shared indicators or (dis/aggregated) elements of indicators;

(d)Reporting by Parties;

(e)Enabling the Conference of the Parties and its subsidiary bodies to review progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;

(f)Providing a knowledge base for developing future plans and targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity and other multilateral environmental agreements;

4.Notes that the list of global indicators for the Strategic Plan will be kept under review, enabling, inter alia, the future incorporation of other relevant indicators, including those developed in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and other Conventions and processes;

5.Also notes that the list of global indicators will provide (a) a framework to assess progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and (b) a flexible framework for Parties to adapt to their national priorities and circumstances, bearing in mind that Parties have different approaches to monitoring the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;

6.Further notes that many indicators rely on a small number of essential biodiversity variables and that further efforts are required to improve the monitoring of these variables;

7.Welcomes the important contributions to indicator development by the members of the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and other relevant organizations and processes, as well as initiatives on community-based monitoring and information systems, and encourages further collaboration and continued support for work on indicators, taking into account, as appropriate, the outcomes of the meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group and its further considerations;

8.Invites the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership to develop technical guidance on the indicators for which such guidance has not already been developed, including a description of the indicator methodology, underlying data sets, relevance and feasibility of use at the national level, to make this guidance available, and to facilitate access to this information through the clearing house-mechanism;

9.Invites those institutions that compile global indicators to promote the free and open access to underlying data and methodologies and to facilitate national disaggregation of underlying data, and methodologies, where appropriate, taking into account the voluntary guidance to improve the accessibility of biodiversity-related data and information (annex to Rec. 19/-- ² - item 3.2);

10.Requests the Executive Secretary:

(a)To continue to collaborate with (i) the Inter-agency and Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goals indicators under the United Nations Statistical Commission, in order to reflect the multiple links between the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Targets, and the Sustainable Development Goals; (ii) the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on the further operationalization of the three land-based progress indicators (trends in land cover, trends in land productivity or functioning of the land, and trends in carbon stock above and below ground) set out in UNCCD decision XX/COP.12; ³ (iii) the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES); (iv) the other biodiversity-related conventions and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and (v) the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity Working Group on Indicators, in order to promote synergies regarding assessments of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets;

(b)To facilitate peer review, inter alia, by the focal points of the Convention and its Protocols, the secretariats of the biodiversity-related conventions and members of the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership, of the proposed list of global indicators, including information on the source of the indicator and its underlying data, using the following criteria: availability of the indicator; its use in the Global Biodiversity Outlook; its suitability for communication; possibility for aggregation or disaggregation of data used;

(c)To update and revise the proposed list of global indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 in the light of the peer review and any comments made during the nineteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and taking into account the outcomes of the forty-seventh session the United Nations Statistical Commission and submit the results to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at its twentieth meeting with a view to preparing a recommendation for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting;

(d)To develop guidance on the use of national indicators and approaches to monitor progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, in collaboration with the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership, drawing upon, as appropriate, the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group and the documentation prepared for it, and to make this information available through the clearing house-mechanism.