Background and Status
The Conference of the Parties is the governing body of the Convention, and advances implementation of the Convention through the decisions it takes at its periodic meetings.
To date the Conference of the Parties has held 14 ordinary meetings, and one extraordinary meeting (the latter, to adopt the
Biosafety Protocol, was held in two parts). From 1994 to 1996, the Conference of the Parties held its ordinary meetings annually. Since then these meetings have been held somewhat less frequently and, following a change in the rules of procedure in 2000, will now be held every two years.
The
Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) is held in Kunming, China and Montreal, Canada, in two phases. Phase one took place virtually, from 11 to 15 October 2021 and included a High-Level Segment from 12 to 13 October. Phase two is currently happening in Montreal, Canada, from 7 to 19 December 2022.