Press Release

BUILDING A GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC ALLIANCE ON BIODIVERSITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE, PARIS, 2-6 JULY 2007

Montreal, 27 June 2007: International scientific experts and policy makers will gather at UNESCO headquarters in Paris from 2 to 6 July 2007 for the twelfth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Central to their discussions will be the scientific and technical aspects of the loss of biodiversity and the growing impacts of climate change on the implementation of the activities undertaken under the Convention. They will also consider the issue of biofuels, the first time that an emerging scientific issue has been added to the SBSTTA agenda. The recommendations will be addressed at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, to be held in Bonn, Germany, from 19 to 30 May 2008.

“Understanding the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and its effects on the implementation of the objectives of the Convention is central to addressing the double threats of the unprecedented loss of biodiversity and the challenges of climate change,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention. He added that, “I am very pleased by the overwhelming response of the scientific bodies of the UN processes involved in the biodiversity and climate change agendas to work together and join forces to address the scientific and technical challenges arising from the two most serious global environmental threats facing mankind.”

Other issues on the agenda for the meeting include the in-depth reviews of the application of the “ecosystem approach”, the basic framework for action under the Convention, and the implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, as well as follow-up action on the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Global Biodiversity Outlook.

The agenda and documents for the meeting are available here

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTAA)

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) was established under Article 25 of the Convention as an open-ended intergovernmental scientific advisory body. SBSTTA is a subsidiary body of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and reports regularly to the COP on all aspects of its work. Its functions include: providing assessments of the status of biological diversity; assessments of the types of measures taken in accordance with the provisions of the Convention; and respond to questions that the Conference of the Parties may put to the body.

SBSTTA has met 11 times to date and produced over 120 recommendations to the Conference of the Parties, a large number of which have been endorsed in full by the latter. Parts of other recommendations have also been endorsed, and many others have been taken up in modified form.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

The Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the most broadly subscribed international environmental treaties on the world. Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, it currently has 190 Parties – 189 States and the European Community- who have committed themselves to its three main goals: the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources. The headquarters of the Secretariat of the Convention is located in Montreal. For additional information, please contact Marie Aminata Khan at +1 514 287 8701; e-mail: [email protected]