Notification 2015-065

Dear Madam/Sir, I have the pleasure to announce that the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), over the period 2015 and 2016, is organizing a series of capacity-building workshops in all regions or sub-regions on achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11. The first workshop in this series targets the East and Southeast Asia sub-regions and will be held in Yanji City, Jilin Province, China from 15 to 18 September 2015. The workshop will be held in English. Meeting documents and logistical information will be posted on the CBD website at http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=PAWS-2015-01 in due course. In decision XI/24, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention invited Parties to undertake major efforts to achieve all elements of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11. The fourth Global Biodiversity Outlook has reported varying levels of progress for elements of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, the quantitative elements (to protect 17 per cent of terrestrial and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas) of the target are on track to be achieved at the global level by 2020 for both terrestrial and marine areas within national jurisdiction, with only an additional area of 1.6 per cent needed in each case. However, the other elements relating to ecological representation, coverage of areas important for biodiversity, management effectiveness, governance, and integration of protected areas into wider land- and seascapes, still need more attention in order to be achieved. This workshop is being organized against this background and following upon CBD notification 2015-027 of 9 March 2015, which advised that “the Secretariat stands ready to assist Parties, as may be required, including through the compilation of relevant information and, subject to available funding, plans to provide a platform for discussing the specific planned actions of Parties to address conservation gaps via webinars, online courses and face-to-face capacity-building workshops”. The aims of the workshop are to: (a) Collect and share information and data on the status of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 (quantitative elements, ecoregions, areas important for biodiversity, management effectiveness, governance and equity, other effective area-based conservation measures and integration of protected areas into wider land- and seascapes); (b) Identify priority actions for East and Southeast Asia for achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and explore opportunities for advancing these actions through financial support from national budgets and from bilateral and multilateral sources including the Global Environment Facility-6 System for Transparent Allocation of Resources biodiversity allocations; and (c) Support countries to enhance integration of protected areas into wider land- and seascapes including through trans-boundary collaboration. Through this workshop, the Secretariat plans to offer capacity-building to Parties, including elements of training, as well as providing opportunities for exchanges of country experiences, best practices and lessons learned. These capacity-building activities respond to a request from the COP to the Executive Secretary in paragraph 10 of decision XI/24. Submission of nominations from Governments I am pleased to invite your Government to nominate one representative by 30 June 2015 to participate in the workshop. Eligible country participants will receive financing from the CBD Secretariat to facilitate their participation. To nominate a representative, please provide the attached nomination form signed by the national focal point, sent by fax to +1 (514) 288-6588 or e-mail to secretariat@cbd.int. Nominated representatives should be chosen based on the following criteria. The participant should: (a) Represent the authority managing protected areas (e.g. the protected area focal point, or another expert from the Ministry of Environment); (b) Have the ability to report on the current status of achieving the elements of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, and provide an assessment of needs; (c) Be knowledgeable about the status of integrating protected area plans and actions into revised National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans; and (d) Have the ability to translate the knowledge gained into concrete actions. In the weeks leading up to the workshop, the participants will be provided with pre-work questions and asked to submit a case study and information on the status of achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11. Participants may also present their case study at the workshop. Participants will also be offered the opportunity to benefit from online learning modules on key protected area themes. Other staff in-country may also wish to take these modules. I look forward to receiving your nominations and I thank you for your cooperation and continued support for the work of the Convention. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points of: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam