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COP 7 Decision VII/8

Monitoring and indicators:  designing national-level monitoring programmes and indicators

The Conference of the Parties

1. Welcomes the progress made by the ninth meeting of SBSTTA on monitoring and indicators;

2. Notes the indicators already in use by Parties and ongoing regional and biome-related initiatives and cooperation, as reported in annex I to the note by the Executive Secretary on designing national-level monitoring programmes and indicators prepared for the ninth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/10), and welcomes the ongoing efforts on the development of biodiversity indicators within the various thematic programmes and cross-cutting themes of the Convention;

3. Also welcomes the report prepared by the expert meeting on indicators of biological diversity including indicators for rapid assessment of inland water ecosystems (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/INF/7);

4. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern its financial support for the expert meeting on indicators of biological diversity, the co-chairs and all the experts for their contributions to the meeting;

5. Notes and encourages the increased collaboration between the Convention on Biological Diversity and other conventions and organizations in facilitating the development of national-level indicators and monitoring programmes that Parties may draw upon if they so wish as well as the development of global indicators on biodiversity;

6. Requests the Executive Secretary to continue collaborating with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the European Environment Agency, and other relevant international and regional organizations and initiatives on the further development and consolidation of indicators relevant to the 2010 target in accordance with decision VII/30 and the thematic programmes of work of the Convention;

7. Recognizes that regional and national differences and different national priorities on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity necessitates a flexible approach at the national level but that there are benefits in promoting a more consistent framework for data gathering, computation and reporting that can contribute to the development of commonly agreed indicators at regional and global levels;

8. Urges all Parties that have not done so to develop a set of biodiversity indicators as part of their national strategies and action plans, taking into account, as appropriate, the targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the target to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level, as well as the guidance, lessons learned and list of indicators provided in the note by the Executive Secretary prepared for the ninth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/10) document, and to report on progress to the Conference of the Parties at its eighth meeting;

9. Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to make use of biodiversity indicators in their assessment of biodiversity, in particular in their assessment of progress towards the achievement of globally agreed targets such as those of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, the Strategic Plan of the Convention, the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Millennium Development Goals;

10.  Agrees that the framework contained in annex II to the note by the Executive Secretary (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/10) provides useful guidance for the development of national-level biodiversity indicators and monitoring, emphasizing the use of existing national data, indicators and evaluation methods in a participatory and accessible approach;

11.  Recognizes that the development and use of indicators, particularly in the development phase, requires a financial and technical commitment from Parties, and therefore encourages bi-lateral and multilateral funding agencies to assist developing countries, in particular the least developed and small island developing States among them, and countries with economies in transition through the provision of financial assistance and training, as required and as appropriate, to develop and implement effective biodiversity indicators;

12.  Acknowledges that the project funded by the Global Environment Facility on biodiversity indicators in national use, might illustrate how each step proposed in the guidelines for indicator development contained in this document could be carried out in practice and thereby provides lessons on the practical development of biodiversity indicators;

13.  Encourages Parties to share experience in the development and use of indicators and monitoring and to cooperate and promote, where useful, harmonized procedures and formats for data acquisition, computation and reporting, especially at subregional and regional levels;

14.  Requests the clearing-house mechanism of the Convention to develop an effective system of information-sharing on lessons learned on the development of national-level biodiversity indicators and monitoring, including through the presentation of worked examples and case-studies;

15.  Requests the Executive Secretary to further develop the identification, development and testing of indicators based on accrued experience and making particular efforts on indicators: (i) concerning the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources; and (ii) on the status and trends of biodiversity at the genetic level, taking into account the ongoing work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), the organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other relevant organizations, and invites him to report on progress for the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

16.  Also requests the Executive Secretary to identify, and bring to the attention of Parties, areas with potential for better coordination and integration, as applicable, between sets of indicators prepared within the various programmes of work and cross-cutting themes of the Convention to avoid duplication of efforts in developing indicators, data-gathering and reporting, particularly at the national level;

17.  Further requests the Executive Secretary to update, complete and make available, through the clearing-house mechanism and other appropriate means, the indicative list of indicator initiatives and sources of information contained in appendix 2 to annex II to the note by the Executive Secretary (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/10).