Notification 2014-014

Dear Madam/Sir, As you are aware, the provisional agenda of the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is now available at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=COP-12 . A mid-term review of progress towards the goals of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, including the programmes of work and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, will be undertaken at COP 12. The meeting will also consider, under agenda item 16, the further development of tools and guidance to assist implementation of the Convention and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. It is therefore expected that COP 12 will develop further guidance to Parties to enhance the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to ensure the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020. To facilitate the consideration of agenda item 16, Parties and organizations are invited to provide views and inputs on the possible elements to include in the tools and guidance to assist the implementation of the Convention and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and provide further momentum for the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The views submitted will complement the analysis of the fifth national reports and of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook. In preparing your input, you may wish to refer to the outcomes of the seventeenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, as well as the documents prepared for that meeting, available at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=SBSTTA-17 . As such, I invite Parties and relevant organizations to submit their views to the Secretariat (by e-mail at: secretariat@cbd.int, or by fax at: +1 514 288 6588), no later than 7 April 2014. You may wish to provide views and inputs specific to particular Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as more general ones. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points and relevant organizations