Notification 2020-059

Dear Madam/Sir, Reference is made to notification 2020-002, issued on 6 January 2020, on the preparations for the trial phase of an Open-ended Forum for Review of Implementation, originally planned to be held during the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 3). Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the new dates for SBI 3, as announced in notification 2020-050, I wish to inform you that the Bureau has decided that the trial phase of the Open-ended Forum for Review of Implementation will be held online on 16 and 17 September 2020. The sessions will be held from 7:00 am to 9:00 am (Montreal time) on 16 September and from 7:00 am to 8:00 am on 17 September. Interpretation will be provided in all UN languages. Guyana, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Poland and Finland have kindly agreed to participate in the trial phase of the country-by-country review process, and a dialogue session. The review reports prepared by these Parties, as well as other background information on the trial phase and country selection, are available at: https://www.cbd.int/convention/mechanisms/trial-phase.shtml. During the online Forum, each of the five Parties will present their review reports on: i) actions that have been taken to implement the Convention and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, including legislative action; ii) outcomes of these actions and progress made; iii) technical and financial resources provided or received from multiple sources for implementation; iv) any need for adjustments of the current NBSAP (implementation mechanisms in place, targets and action plan, other); and v) unresolved challenges in implementation. I would like to invite Parties to examine the review reports prepared by the Parties noted above and to send any questions they would like to be addressed during the Open-ended Forum to secretariat@cbd.int no later than 10 September 2020. Questions should clearly state for which Party or Parties they are intended. The five presenting countries will select questions, from those received from other Parties by the deadline, to respond to during the session. Following the online Forum, the Secretariat will send an online survey to collect feedback on the trial phase of the Open-ended Forum on Review of Implementation. This feedback will be presented to and discussed at SBI 3, as per decision 14/29 of the Conference of the Parties. The online Forum is part of the series of special virtual sessions of SBSTTA and SBI scheduled from 15 to 18 September 2020. Further information on the online Forum and the other sessions, including registration, meeting platform and connection details, is available in notification 2020-058. I look forward to your participation in this process and thank you for your continued support to the work of the Convention. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points cc: ABS Focal Points, Cartagena Protocol Focal Points, Resource Mobilization Focal Points