Distr. GENERAL
CONVENTION ON
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
UNEP/CBD/COP/3/11
18 September 1996
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
[ADVANCE COPY]
CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
Third meeting
Buenos Aires, Argentina
4 to 15 November 1996
Item 7.1 of the provisional agenda
1. INTRODUCTION
1. In decision II/7, the COP requested the Executive
Secretary to make available through the clearing-house mechanism
information on Articles 6 (General Measures for Conservation and
Sustainable Use) and 8 (In-situ Conservation) and lessons
drawn from national experience, and also to make available relevant
information on the implementation of Articles 6 and 8 contained
in national reports submitted by the Parties in accordance with
Article 26 of the Convention and decision II/17 of the COP. It
further requested the Executive Secretary (paragraph 4):
"(a) To compile and disseminate that information
as widely as possible, including experience of relevant conventions,
United Nations bodies and intergovernmental and nongovernmental
organizations in dealing with the provisions of Articles 6 and
8; and
(b) To prepare, on the basis of available information,
suggestions on how the collection and sharing of relevant information
and experience might be enhanced".
2. It also requested the interim financial mechanism
under the Convention to facilitate the urgent implementation of
Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention by developing country Parties
by making available financial resources for projects in a flexible
and expeditious manner.
3. Finally, it requested the Executive Secretary
to present a report on the implementation of this decision for
consideration at its third meeting.
4. This Note responds to that request. Item 5 of
the provisional agenda for this meeting, on the assessment and
review of the operation of the clearing-house mechanism, and item
6 on financial resources and mechanism, particularly 6.1 (report
on the activities of the Global Environment Facility as the interim
institutional structure), are also directly relevant. The COP
may therefore wish to refer to document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/4, which
contains a progress report by the Executive Secretary on the implementation
of the pilot phase of the clearing-house mechanism, and document
UNEP/CBD/COP/3/5, which contains the report of the Global Environment
Facility. Several other items on the provisional agenda of this
meeting, including 11.1 (implementation of Article 8[j[), 17 (issues
related to biosafety) and 18 (relationship of the Convention with
the Commission on Sustainable Development and biodiversity-related
conventions and processes), are also relevant to this agenda item.
5. The COP decided (decision II/17, paragraph 4)
that the first national reports will be due at the fourth meeting
of the COP. Therefore, the Parties have yet to submit their first
national reports. Accordingly, the Executive Secretary, in preparing
the present Note, has not been in a position to draw on the information
contained in national reports regarding the implementation of
Articles 6 and 8.
6. At its second meeting, the COP had before it document
UNEP/CBD/COP/2/12, entitled "Approaches and experiences related
to the implementation of Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention on
Biological Diversity". This document drew extensively on
the experiences of governments in the kinds of actions and approaches
undertaken to meet the provisions of Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention.
It also discussed the experiences of relevant conventions, United
Nations bodies and intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations
in dealing with these Articles. In response to decision II/7,
the Executive Secretary has posted this paper on the Internet
in an attempt to ensure the widest possible dissemination for
it. To avoid duplication, the substantive discussion contained
in the previous document on shared experience in the implementation
of Articles 6 and 8 is not repeated here.
7. The present document focuses on the response of
the financial mechanism to decision II/7 and on the developments
of some specific aspects of Articles 6 and 8 in which the Executive
Secretary has been involved, particularly with reference to the
dissemination of information. In view of the fact that the clearing-house
mechanism is still in a pilot phase, the Executive Secretary has
endeavoured to find other channels for disseminating this information.
It should be remembered that in addition to the activities in
which the Executive Secretary has been involved, much additional
activity has been carried out in the past year by individual Parties
and by a wide range of national, regional and international organisations
and bodies, which is of direct relevance to the implementation
of Articles 6 and 8. It is expected that much of this will be
reported in the first national reports, to be reviewed at the
next meeting of the COP.
2. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 6
8. Paragraph 6 of decision II/7 addressed this issue
directly by requesting the interim financial mechanism under the
Convention to facilitate the urgent implementation of Articles
6 and 8. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), which serves as
the interim financial mechanism for the Convention, has submitted
a report to the present meeting (document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/5) that
sets out its response to guidance from the COP, including that
contained in decision II/7.
9. That document reports on the steps that have been
taken, chiefly with respect to enabling activities. These are
activities that "will assist recipient countries to develop
national strategies, plans or programs referred to in Article
6 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and to identify components
of biodiversity together with processes and activities likely
to have significant adverse impacts on conservation and sustainable
use of biodiversity pursuant to Article 7 of the Convention on
Biological Diversity" (GEF Operational Strategy, p
21).
10. These steps include: the preparation of operational
criteria for enabling activities in the area of biological diversity;
approval of an expedited process for approving enabling activities
project proposals consistent with the operational criteria; approval
of an initial allocation of US$ 30 million for enabling activities
in support of biodiversity and climate-change conventions; the
informing of eligible countries by the GEF and secretariats of
the conventions (the Convention on Biological Diversity and the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) that financial
resources are available to assist the implementation of enabling
activities.
11. During the period from 1 July 1995 to 30 June
1996, fifteen project proposals for enabling activities were approved,
fourteen of them under expedited procedures. In addition, ten
proposals for project-preparation financing were approved. To
date, the GEF has provided enabling assistance to forty-one countries,
with project-preparation financing approved for a further five.
Recognising the urgency of activities for enabling developing-country
Parties to implement the Convention, the Implementing Agencies
expect to submit an additional forty enabling-activity project
proposals during the period from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997.
12. In addition, document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/24, concerning
Article 11 of the Convention (incentive measures) and prepared
by the Executive Secretary to assist the COP in its consideration
of item 15.1 of the provisional agenda, discusses ways and means
of incorporating the conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity into sectoral plans and programmes at the national level,
as required by Article 6(b), chiefly by addressing the elimination
of perverse incentives and the propagation of positive incentives.
Document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/14 on agricultural biological diversity,
an earlier version of which was considered at the second meeting
of the SBSTTA (as document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/10), specifically
addresses the implementation of Article 6(b) in one major sector,
that of agriculture.
3. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 8
3.1 Articles 8(a) and 8(b): The Design and Management
of Protected-area Systems
13. Experience in the design, establishment and management
of protected-areas systems was discussed at some length in UNEP/CBD/COP/2/12.
In addition, the Jakarta Mandate on Marine and Coastal Biological
Diversity includes marine and coastal protected areas as one of
its five major thematic areas, as discussed in document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/14.
14. The Memorandum of Cooperation established between
the Convention and the Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (the Ramsar Convention)
calls for the regular exchange and dissemination of information
in their respective fields of action. In the case of the Ramsar
Convention this includes the designation and management of wetland
protected areas in countries that are Contracting Parties to that
Convention. The report by the Bureau of the Ramsar Convention,
which forms the annex to document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/30, describes
the Ramsar Convention's involvement in protected-area design and
management in some detail. The Memorandum of Cooperation currently
being developed with the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (in
full) will similarly allow for the enhanced sharing of experience
in the design and implementation of an internationally coordinated
protected-areas system.
3.2 Article 8(c): The Management of Biological
Resources
15. Document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/16 on biological diversity
in forests was prepared by the Executive Secretary in response
to decision II/9 for the consideration of the present meeting
under item 10.2. of the provisional agenda. An earlier version
of this paper, which discusses issues relevant to several parts
of Article 8, including paragraphs (c), (d), (i) and (l), was
considered by the second meeting of the SBSTTA (as document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/11).
In addition, the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in March 1996
by the Secretariats of the Convention and the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) includes
articles concerned with the exchange of information and experience
as well as joint conservation actions and has thereby initiated
the process of enhancing information sharing in the implementation
of important aspects of Article 8(c) concerned with international
trade. Management to ensure the sustainable use of coastal and
marine living resources is one of the major themes identified
under the Jakarta Mandate, and the sustainable use of inland aquatic
resources will form a key area in forthcoming considerations of
the biological diversity of inland water ecosystems, to be addressed
at the fourth meeting of the COP.
3.3 Article 8(d): The Protection of Ecosystems,
Habitats and Species in Natural Surroundings
16. Many of the background documents prepared by
the Executive Secretary in the past year, and many of the activities
in which the Executive Secretary has been involved, have a direct
bearing on Article 8(d). These include the papers on biological
diversity in forests referred to under Article 8(c) above, as
well as those on the assessment of biological diversity and the
use of indicators of biological diversity (documents UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/2,
UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/4 and UNEP/CBD/COP/3/13 and annexes). Work undertaken
within the remit of the Jakarta Mandate addresses this issue,
as will forthcoming work on biological diversity of inland water
ecosystems.
3.4 Article 8(e): Sustainable Development in Areas
Adjacent to Protected Areas
17. The Jakarta Mandate for Marine and Coastal Biological
Diversity specifically encourages the use of integrated marine
and coastal-area management as the most suitable framework for
addressing human impacts on marine and coastal biological diversity
and for promoting the conservation and sustainable use of this
biodiversity (decision II/10, paragraph 2).
3.5 Article 8(f): Restoration Ecology and Species
Recovery Plans
18. These issues have been addressed in document
UNEP/CBD/COP/2/12. Mechanisms for monitoring and assessing the
effectiveness of actions taken in these fields are discussed in
UNEP/CBD/COP/3/13 and annexes.
3.6 Article 8(g): Biosafety
19. In 1996, UNEP published the International
Technical Guidelines for Safety in Biotechnology, which address
Article 8 (g). The guidelines were adopted by the Global Consultation
of Government-designated Experts, hosted by the government of
Egypt in Cairo from 11 to 14 December 1995. The guidelines were
the product of a consensus-building process involving a wide spectrum
of stakeholders, including the public and private sectors (including
the biotechnology industry), the Secretariat of the Convention,
relevant United Nations bodies, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organisations, and others.
20. The COP, in its decision II/5, noted that the
guidelines (at that time not finalised) could contribute to the
development and implementation of a protocol on biosafety. The
guidelines could also serve both as an interim mechanism during
the development of the protocol and as a complement to it after
its completion.
21. These guidelines have now been widely disseminated,
having been distributed at the first meeting of the Open-ended
Ad Hoc Working Group on Biosafety, instigated by the COP in its
decision II/5 and hosted by the government of Denmark in Aarhus,
Denmark, from 22 to 26 July 1996. In addition, these guidelines
were distributed as document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/Inf.16 at the second
meeting of the SBSTTA, and are included as a document for consideration
by the present meeting (UNEP/CBD/COP/3/27). The consideration
of a summary report of the Open-ended Ad Hoc Working Group on
biosafety (document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/26) is included as item 17.1
of the provisional agenda for this meeting.
3.7 Article 8(h): Alien Species
22. In July 1996, the Norway/United Nations (UN)
Conference on Alien Species was hosted in Trondheim, Norway, by
the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment in collaboration with
the Secretariat of the Convention, UNEP, UNESCO, IUCN - the World
Conservation Union, and the Scientific Committee on Problems of
the Environment (SCOPE) of the International Council of Scientific
Unions (ICSU). This conference addressed itself directly to Article
8(h) of the Convention and was intended as a contribution to and
a concrete step in facilitating the implementation of the Convention.
Participants from over sixty countries discussed and shared experiences
related to the control of invasive alien species. The proceedings
of the conference and the Chairman's Report are expected to be
available at the present meeting and represent an important contribution
to the dissemination of information regarding the implementation
of Article 8(h). In addition, the consideration of alien species
is one of the five main themes of the Jakarta Mandate on Marine
and Coastal Biological Diversity, discussed under Articles 8(a)
and 8(b) above.
3.8 Article 8(i): The Compatibility of Present
Use, Conservation, and Sustainable Use
23. As well as presenting case studies, in document
UNEP/CBD/COP/3/24, on the implementation of Article 11, which
has direct bearing on Article 8(i), the Secretariat has also addressed
this issue in its papers on the economic valuation of biological
diversity (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/13) and biological diversity in agricultural
ecosystems (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/10), which were considered at the
second meeting of the SBSTTA; a modified version of the latter
document is contained in UNEP/CBD/COP/3/14 to assist the consideration
of item 9 of the provisional agenda for this meeting.
3.9 Article 8(j): The Knowledge, Innovations and
Practices of Indigenous and Local Communities
24. The COP has included the consideration of the
implementation of Article 8(j) of the Convention as a separate
item (11.1) on its provisional agenda. As noted under that agenda
item, the Executive Secretary has prepared two substantive documents
concerning Article 8(j). These are: document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/7,
entitled "Knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous
and local communities", prepared by the Executive Secretary
to assist the second meeting of the SBSTTA in its deliberations
on this issue; and document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/Inf.3, entitled
"Traditional Forest-related Knowledge and the Convention
on Biological Diversity", which was the contribution of the
Executive Secretary to the preparation of the Report of the Secretary-General
on traditional forest-related knowledge presented at the third
session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests.
25. Both these documents draw extensively on the
experience of non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations,
United Nations bodies, relevant conventions and treaties, and
national experience in dealing with issues related to the implementation
of Article 8(j). The latter paper includes, as Annex 3 ("Network
Access Points"), contact details for groups concerned with
indigenous knowledge and related issues. Both papers have been
widely disseminated. A modified version of the former (document
UNEP/CBD/COP/3/19) will be before the meeting to assist discussion
on the implementation of Article 8(j) under item 11.1 of the provisional
agenda.
3.10 Article 8(k): Threatened-species Legislation
26. As noted above, the Memorandum of Cooperation
between the Convention and CITES has initiated the process of
sharing of information and experiences concerned with the implementation
of legal controls on the international trade in threatened species.
Similarly, the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Convention
and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of
Wild Animals (the Bonn Convention) should enable information on
the legal protection of migratory species, included in Appendix
I of the Bonn Convention, to be more widely disseminated.
3.11 Article 8(l): The Regulation of Adverse Processes
Identified Pursuant to Article 7
27. The implementation of Article 8(l) is dependent
on the successful implementation of Article 7 in that processes
and categories of activities that have or may have adverse impacts
on biological diversity must be identified before they can be
regulated and managed. At its second meeting, the SBSTTA addressed
the issue of identifying these processes. To assist it in its
deliberations, the Executive Secretary prepared a background document
(UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/3). This document forms the basis of document
UNEP/CBD/COP/3/12, which has been prepared to assist the COP in
its discussion of item 8.1 of the provisional agenda (options
for implementing Article 7 of the Convention). The Executive Secretary
also prepared the document "Indicators for assessing the
effectiveness of measures taken under the Convention" for
the second meeting of the SBSTTA (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/2/4). This document
draws on a wide range of experience in discussing the use, to
date, of indicators of biological diversity, particularly those
related to pressures on biological diversity and those related
to responses to those pressures. To ensure the wide dissemination
of this information, the document has been included as an Annex
to UNEP/CBD/COP/2/13.
28. In addition, document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/24, already
referred to in paragraph 12 above, discusses experiences in the
elimination, or mitigation, of the effects of perverse incentives
(i.e., those incentives that lead to processes and activities
that have adverse effects on biological diversity). It draws together
a number of examples and describes some cases in detail.
3.12 Article 8(m): Financial and Other Support
for In-situ Conservation
29. Paragraph 6 of decision II/7 addressed this issue directly by requesting the interim financial mechanism under the Convention to facilitate the urgent implementation of Articles 6 and 8. The report of the GEF notes that, to date, the GEF has approved fifty-five project proposals addressing in-situ conservation in pursuance of Article 8. During the period from 1 July 1995 to 30 June 1996, the GEF approved three project proposals and twenty-four proposals for project-preparation financing that contained elements addressing in-situ conservation. The three approved projects were for the Biodiversity Enterprise Fund in Latin America, Comoros Island Biodiversity, and Viet Nam Protected Areas. Further details are provided in document UNEP/CBD/COP/3/5.
4.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENHANCING THE COLLECTION AND SHARING OF
EXPERIENCE AND INFORMATION
30. As envisaged under the Convention, the clearing-house
mechanism, when operational, will play the central role in the
dissemination of information relevant to the implementation of
the Convention. In view of the facts that many parts of the world
have, as yet, only partial access to the Internet and that much
valuable information already exists in published form and not
necessary in electronic versions, the COP may wish to stress that
the clearing-house mechanism should not be viewed merely as an
electronic system. The proposed development of the Global Biodiversity
Outlook as a publication emphasises a commitment to the production
and dissemination of information in non-electronic forms.
31. As is evident from the discussion above, many
of the documents prepared, and many of the activities undertaken,
by the Executive Secretary have a direct bearing on part or all
of the provisions of Articles 6 and 8. In addition, many of the
activities undertaken worldwide which help to meet the aims of
the Convention do so by addressing these Articles without necessarily
directly involving the machinery of the Convention. In light of
this, the COP may wish to emphasise that the compilation and dissemination
under the Convention of information relevant to the implementation
of these Articles (or indeed of any other Articles) should complement
and enhance existing efforts, rather than duplicate them.
32. To this end, the COP may wish to consider recommending
that ways be sought to involve in a more systematic fashion organisations
concerned with collecting and disseminating information on the
implementation of Articles 6 and 8, such as the World Conservation
Monitoring Centre (WCMC), which manages, inter alia, the
CITES database on international trade in species listed in the
CITES appendices, the database used to produce the UN list of
national parks and other protected areas, and the database used
to produce the IUCN Red Lists of threatened plant and animal species.
33. The COP may also wish to request an analysis
of the proposed Biological Conservation Information System (BCIS),
currently being developed by BirdLife International, Botanic Gardens
Conservation International (BCGI), IUCN TRAFFIC, WCMC and Wetlands
International, to determine whether this might contribute usefully
to the dissemination of information on the implementation of Articles
6 and 8.
34. The COP may wish to consider recommending that
any newsletter produced regularly by the Secretariat contain a
section with reviews or listings of recent publications relevant
to the implementation of the Convention.
35. The COP may also wish to consider requesting
the Executive Secretary to produce a listing, with contact details,
of organisations that regularly produce publications of relevance
to the Convention. Such organisations would include IIED, IUCN,
TRAFFIC, WWF, WCMC, WRI, CI, FAO, UNESCO, UNEP, The World Bank,
and others. Such a listing should be made available both on the
Internet and as a separate publication. It would have to be made
clear that the list is for information purposes only and implied
no sanction or approval by the Convention for publications produced
by these organisations. Alternatively, the COP may wish to consider
whether the publication, A Sourcebook for Conservation and
Biological Diversity Information (IUCN in collaboration with
UNEP INFOTERRA, 1995), adequately meets this requirement and should
be recommended for use in this regard.
36. The COP may wish to encourage the Secretariat
to prepare for publication and wider dissemination the background
documents prepared for meetings of the SBSTTA and/or the COP that
contain substantive discussion of issues relevant to the implementation
of Articles 6 and 8.
37. In view of the extremely wide range of provisions
in these Articles, particularly in Article 8, the COP may wish
to consider recommending the further development of a thematic
approach in the compilation and dissemination of information concerning
their implementation. It may wish to do this, for example, by
encouraging the SBSTTA to consider adopting one of the subject
areas dealt with in Article 8 as the theme of one of its future
meetings. One area of major importance in the conservation and
sustainable use of biological diversity, and which has hitherto
been somewhat neglected, is that of alien species, addressed by
Article 8(h). The choice of this as a theme for early consideration
would enable the valuable work of the Norway/UN Conference on
Alien Species, discussed under Article 8(h), to be carried forward
in a timely fashion and would also allow opportunities for the
collaboration with organisations and processes that are involved
in work in this field, such as the Scientific Committee on Problems
of the Environment (SCOPE), which has proposed a global strategy
for invasive species, and the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist
Group.
38. Further appropriate themes might be:
- (a) the design and management of protected areas;
- (b) restoration ecology and species recovery plans;
- (c) the sustainable use of wild resources;
- (d) threatened-species legislation; and
- (e) the assessment and mitigation of threats.