Notification 2006-026

Dear Madam/Sir, As you know, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP) established the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) as a cross-cutting issue relevant to all of the thematic work programmes of the Convention. The Conference of the Parties (COP), at its eighth meeting in March 2006, reviewed the programme of work on the GTI and took decision VIII/3 focused on furthering its implementation. In paragraph 9 a of this decision, the COP urged Parties and other Governments that have not done so to establish national focal points for the GTI so that they can contribute to the implementation of the programme of work at national level (decision VIII/3, paragraph 9a). I would like to encourage Parties and other Governments to submit their nominations for GTI National Focal Points to the Secretariat no later than 30 September 2006. The current list of GTI National Focal Points is available at http://www.biodiv.org/doc/lists/nfp-gti.pdf for your reference. Although Parties determine the specific responsabilities of their focal points, GTI National Focal Points may have the following general responsibilities: • Developing linkages and facilitating information exchange in order to advance the implementation of the GTI at national level; • Responding to requests for input from the Conference of the Parties and the Secretariat related to the GTI; • Communicating and collaborating with other GTI National Focal Points to facilitate implementation of the GTI at sub-regional, regional and global levels; • Collaborating with other national-level focal points for the Convention and focal points from other biodiversity-related conventions to facilitate implementation and mainstreaming of the GTI at national level. I thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter and your continued support to the work of the Convention.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points With copy to the Heads of Delegations at COP-8