Notification 2018-010

Dear Madam/Sir, In decision XII/2 B, paragraph 15, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity requests the Executive Secretary to propose, in collaboration with the informal advisory committee to the clearing-house mechanism (CHM-IAC), a process to grant, at the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth meetings of the Conference of the Parties, subject to the availability of resources, an award to the Parties that have made the most significant progress in the establishment or further development of their national clearing-house mechanisms. Additionally, Parties are strongly encouraged to accelerate the establishment and development of their national clearing-house mechanisms where they have not done so. In response to this decision, and following consultations with the CHM-IAC, I am pleased to convey in annex I below the modalities for granting the award referred to above at the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. Please also find in annex II, an overview of the expected role of a national clearing-house mechanism and in annex III, a questionnaire to collect information about the status of your national clearing-house mechanism as well as your plans to improve it. You are kindly requested to return this questionnaire by e-mail to secretariat@cbd.int by 31 July 2018 under the subject “CHM Award”. Alternatively, this questionnaire can be filled online at https://www.chm-cbd.net/award/cop14/questionnaire. It is highly recommended that Parties use the online version, as one of its advantages is that it can be completed on an ongoing basis between now and the questionnaire deadline. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that, thanks to the support of the Government of Japan, through its Japan Biodiversity Fund, the Secretariat has developed a tool, called Bioland, to assist Parties in the establishment of their national clearing-house mechanisms. Any Party that currently has no operational national clearing-house mechanism, or would like to redesign its existing one, is therefore encouraged to use this tool in order to establish its new or redesigned national clearing-house mechanism by mid-2018. More information on the Bioland tool and how to benefit from it is available in annex IV. Should you need any further information on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the CHM team by e-mail at chm@cbd.int. I look forward to a stimulating competition and wish good luck to all Parties. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD and CHM National Focal Points