Guidance for promoting synergy among activities addressing biological
diversity, desertification, land degradation and climate change
The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice
1. Welcomes the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) on
Biodiversity and Adaptation to Climate Change (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/11/INF/5)
containing advice and guidance on the integration of biodiversity
considerations into adaptation activities and on promoting synergy among
biodiversity, climate change and land degradation;
2. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Finland for its financial
and logistical support to the meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group, the
Co-Chairs and all members of the Group for their contributions, those experts
and Governments who provided inputs prior to the meeting of the Expert Group,
and those Governments and organizations that sponsored the participation of
their experts;
3. Notes that:
(a) There are a number of opportunities, using existing mechanisms, for
promoting synergy among activities addressing biological diversity,
desertification, land degradation and climate change, at local, national,
sub-regional, regional and international levels, and at the level of the
secretariats of the Rio Conventions and of other multilateral environmental
agreements;
(b) The climatechange adaptation framework for biodiversity presented in the
report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group and as annex 1 of the note by the
Executive Secretary on guidance for promoting synergy among activities
addressing biological diversity, desertification, land degradation and climate
change (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/11/18) contains a useful approach for the preparation
of national strategies and plans;
(c) There is a need to refine and further develop tools and methods for
incorporating and evaluating synergy among biodiversity, climate change,
desertification and land degradation into national and local planning,
including relevant outcome-oriented indicators, while addressing the objectives
of the three Rio Conventions and other relevant multilateral agreements;
(d) There are knowledge gaps for including biodiversity considerations into
adaptation planning and implementation, as identified in the report of the Ad
Hoc Technical Expert Group, concerning the need to:
(i) Improve understanding of the capacity of species, habitats, ecosystems,
landscapes and seascapes to adapt to climate change;
(ii) Quantify and forecast the responses of genotypes, species, habitats,
ecosystems, landscapes and seascapes to climate change
(iii) Further develop methods for restoring, maintaining, or improving the
ecological functioning of protected areas and of landscapes and seascapes; and
(iv) Improve the understanding of the ways in which land use and other
human-caused stressors influence the effectiveness of adaptation policies;
(e) There is a need to devote further attention to the question of adaptation to
climate change for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity,
building on the lessons learned by countries that already have experience in
adaptation;
4. Welcomes the development of the biodiversity and climatechange module
of Issue-Based Modules for Coherent Implementation of Biodiversity Conventions
project developed by the United Nations Environment Programme as a helpful tool
for synergistic implementation;
5. Welcomes the joint initiative of the Government of Canada and the
secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change to host an informal meeting of the
scientific subsidiary bodies of both conventions in November 2005, as a way to
strengthen and stimulate further cooperation between the conventions;
6. Requests the Executive Secretary:
(a) To further develop, in collaboration with the members of the Ad Hoc
Technical Expert Group on Biodiversity and Adaptation to Climate Change, advice
on the integration of biodiversity considerations in the implementation of
climate change adaptation activities, drawing on more case-studies relevant to
the thematic areas of the Convention and additional information derived from
the work of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with the view of
producing an in-depth assessment;
(b) To identify ways and means for the clearinghouse mechanism to further
enhance exchange of information on the interlinkages between biodiversity and
climate change adaptation activities.
7.
Recommends that the Conference of the Parties:
(a) Welcome the advice or guidance, including tools and approaches,
contained in the noteby the Executive Secretary prepared for the eleventh
meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological
Advice, with the addition, as a new section IV, of section IV of the report of
the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biodiversity and Adaptation to Climate
Change (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/11/INF/5), as an initial step in the design,
implementation and monitoring of activities that interlink across biodiversity,
climate-change
and
land degradation and desertification, while
addressing the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and
other relevant multilateral environmental agreements;
(b) Request the Executive Secretary to transmit this decision, including
the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group, to relevant bodies of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification and the Ramsar Convention, and to ensure
follow-up through the liaison group of the Rio conventions;
(c) Recall decision VII/15, paragraph 15;
(d) Invite Parties, other Governments, relevant organizations and
research institutions to address, as appropriate, the research
gaps outlined in the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on
Biodiversity and Adaptation to Climate Change and summarized in paragraph 3
above and promote research on mitigation and biodiversity in order to further
facilitate the incorporation of biodiversity considerations into the design,
implementation and monitoring of activities aimed at mitigation and adaptation
to climate change.
(e) Invite Parties, other Governments, relevant organizations and
research institutions to develop and support, as appropriate, pilot
projects involving joint actions within the objectives of the three Rio
conventions, in order to promote better understanding and functioning of
synergies among these;
(f) Encourage Parties to cooperate regionally in activities aimed at
enhancing habitat connectivity across ecological gradients, with the aim of
enhancing ecosystem resilience and to facilitate the migration of species with
limited tolerance to altered climatic conditions;
(g) Invite Parties to consider the need to provide additional support to
developing countries, particularly the least developed and small-island
developing States among them, and countries with economies in transition, in
order to enhance understanding, design and communication of synergies in the
national implementation of the three Rio Conventions, and to support the
preparation of adaptation activities and plans, including assistance in the
areas of financial resources, technology transfer, education and outreach,
capacity-building, research and systemic observation, and harmonized reporting.
(h) Identify potential activities to be jointly conducted with the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, taking into account the reports
of the two ad hoc technical expert groups on biodiversity and climate change,
for consideration by the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
