Notification 2016-063

Dear Madam/Sir, I am pleased to inform you that a capacity-building workshop on achieving Aichi Biodiversity Targets 11 and 12, for the Pacific region, will be held from 11 to 13 July 2016 in Nadi, Fiji. The workshop is organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), prior to the Pacific Round table on Protected Areas and hosted by the Government of Fiji, with the generous financial support from the Government of Japan, through the Japan Biodiversity Fund. The workshop will be conducted in English only. The meeting documents and the logistical information will be posted on the CBD website at http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=PAWS-2016-03 in due course. The workshop is part of a series of capacity-building workshops organized pursuant to the request of the Conference of the Parties through paragraph 10 of decision XI/24. Under the same decision, paragraph 1(b), Parties were invited, consistent with national circumstances, to undertake major efforts with appropriate support, to achieve all elements of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11. The recently concluded twentieth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice ( SBSTTA) looked at the implementation of Aichi Biodiversity Targets 11 and 12 and recommended that the Conference of Parties, while welcoming the continued progress towards the achievement of Target 11 and acknowledging regional capacity building workshops and related activities, invites Parties to undertake concerted efforts to implement actions identified in national biodiversity strategies and action plans and other relevant strategies, and address any gaps identified through the regional capacity-building workshops on achieving Targets 11 and 12. The fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-4) has reported varying levels of progress for the 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) are on track, but the other elements (ecological representation, coverage of areas important for biodiversity, management effectiveness, governance, and integration of protected areas into wider land- and seascapes) still needing more attention in order to be achieved by 2020. In addition, the elements of Aichi Biodiversity Target 12 (known threatened species and conservation status of species in decline) have not had significant overall progress and require concrete commitment and actions to enhance implementation. The overall objective of the workshop is thus to: (a) Collect and share information and data on the status of each element of Aichi Biodiversity Targets 11 and 12; (b) Identify priority/focused actions for achieving the elements of both targets by 2020 and to explore opportunities for advancing these actions through financial support from national budgets and from bilateral and multilateral sources, including the biodiversity allocations of the sixth replenishment cycle of the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF-6) System for Transparent Allocation of Resources (STAR); and (c) Share experiences, assessments, case studies, identified priority actions and other relevant information on Aichi Biodiversity Targets 11 and 12, with a view to discussing and highlighting commonalities, as well as building partnerships for project development and implementation. I invite your Government to nominate an official in charge of managing protected areas (e.g. the protected areas focal point, or another expert from the Ministry of Environment) to participate in the regional workshop. The nominee proposed should be in a position to translate the capacity and insights gained from the workshop to enable their government to finalize their identify priority actions for achieving the elements of both targets. In the weeks leading up to the workshop, the participants will be provided with pre-work questions on the status of Aichi Biodiversity Targets 11 and 12 and asked to identify priority/focused actions for their achievement. Participants may present collated information or case studies at the workshop and will also be offered the opportunity to benefit from online learning modules on key protected areas themes. Other in-country staff may also wish to take these modules (: http://undp.us13.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ae0bdc2b700d2ab6415906b10&id=bb569eee5e) The participation of one nominated representative from countries eligible to receive funding will be supported with a direct, economy-class round-trip ticket and a Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for the duration of the workshop, in accordance with relevant United Nations rules. Nominations should be submitted using the attached nomination form (Annex I), accompanied by an official letter of nomination to the Secretariat at secretariat@cbd.int or faxed to + 1 514 288 6588, as soon as possible, but no later than 6 June 2016. Nominations need to be accompanied with the duly completed HR Mini Master Request Form attached herewith (Annex II), as well as a scanned photocopy (in pdf format) of the nominee’s national passport. Please kindly note that, in the context of the United Nations-wide introduction of a new resource planning system called “Umoja”, arrangements for travel and DSA disbursement for delegates can only be initiated once the information contained in the HR Mini Master Request Form and the national passport is entered into the system. Submission of these documents together with the nomination form is therefore important in order to expedite the necessary administrative arrangements and to conclude them on time.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points of: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu