1.Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Japan for funding, to the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) for hosting and co-organizing, and to the Government of Australia for providing technical support through the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to the Western South Pacific Regional Workshop to Facilitate the Description of EBSAs, held in Nadi, Fiji, from 22 to 25 November 2011; to the European Commission for funding, the Government of Brazil for hosting, and the UNEP/Caribbean Environment Programme for co-organizing the Wider Caribbean and Western Mid-Atlantic Regional Workshop, held in Recife, Brazil, from 28 February to 2 March 2012; and to the French Government for hosting, OSPAR and NEAFC for convening, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Joint OSPAR/NEAFC/CBD Scientific Workshop on the Identification of EBSAs in the North-East Atlantic, held in Hyeres, France, on 8-9 September 2011;

2.Welcomes the scientific and technical evaluation of information contained in the reports of the regional workshops referred to in paragraph 1 above (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/5, UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/6 and UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/7), which provide scientific and technical evaluation of information on the application of scientific criteria (decision IX/20, annex I), as well as other relevant compatible and complementary nationally and intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria, noting that additional regional workshops are to be convened in other regions in time to be considered by a meeting of the Subsidiary Body prior to the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

3.Notes with appreciation the participatory manner by which these regional workshops were convened, and the use of the best available scientific and technical information, which has provided a basis for the reports on the description of areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs, prepared by the Subsidiary Body at its sixteenth meeting, as contained in the summary report in the annex to the present decision and supplemented by the annexes to UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/5 ⁴, UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/6 and UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/7, as well as UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/8;

4.Noting that during their 17^th Ordinary Meeting held in Paris, from 8 to 10 February 2012, the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its Protocols adopted decision IG.20/7 regarding the conservation of sites of particular interest in the Mediterranean and requested the Secretariat of the Barcelona Convention to contact the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in order to present the work carried out regarding the identification of areas that meet the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas in the Mediterranean, takes note of the Synthesis Report, as contained in document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/8;

5.Noting that the application of the scientific criteria for EBSAs is a scientific and technical exercise and emphasizing that the identification of ecologically or biologically significant areas and the selection of conservation and management measures is a matter for States and competent intergovernmental organizations, in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as stated in paragraph 26 of decision X/29, [endorses], as a reference for States and competent intergovernmental organizations, the summary reports as contained in the annex to the present decision, prepared by the Subsidiary Body at its sixteenth meeting, based on scientific and technical evaluation of information from the workshops, setting out details of the areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs ( decision IX/20, annex I), and requests the Executive Secretary to include the summary reports [endorsed by the Conference of the Parties] on the description of areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs in the repository, as referred to in paragraph 39 of decision X/29, and, in line with the procedures and purpose set out in paragraph 42 of decision X/29, to submit them to the United Nations General Assembly and particularly its Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction, as well as to submit them to Parties, other Governments and relevant international organizations, and further requests the Executive Secretary to submit them to the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socio-economic Aspects, as well as to provide them as a source of information to United Nations specialized agencies⁵;

6.Takes note of the need to promote additional research and monitoring in accordance with national and international laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to improve the ecological or biological information in each region with a view to facilitating the further description of the areas already described, the future description of other areas meeting the scientific criteria for EBSAs as well as other relevant compatible and complementary nationally and intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria;

7.Reaffirms the need to facilitate the participation of developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, in targeted research schemes called for in paragraphs 10, 20 (b) and 48 of decision X/29, including in oceanographic cruises as well as in those research schemes promoted by the International Seabed Authority;

8.Affirms that scientific description of areas meeting scientific criteria for EBSAs and other relevant criteria is an open process that should be continued to allow ongoing improvement and updating as improved scientific and technical information becomes available in each region;

9.Requests the Executive Secretary to further collaborate with Parties, other Governments and competent organizations and global and regional initiatives, such as the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socio-Economic Aspects, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), regional seas conventions and action plans, and, where appropriate, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), with regard to fisheries management, to facilitate the description of areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs, and the further description of the areas already described, through the organization of additional regional or subregional workshops for the remaining regions or regions where new information becomes available, as appropriate, subject to availability of financial resources, and make the reports available for consideration by future meetings of the Subsidiary Body. The summary reports from the SBSTTA will be made available for future meetings of the Conference of the Parties for endorsement with a view to including the reports endorsed by the Conference of the Parties in the repository in line with the procedures and purpose set out in paragraph 42 of decision X/29;

10.Requests the Executive Secretary to further collaborate with Parties, other Governments and competent organizations to build capacity within countries to address regional priorities of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, including those countries with globally significant upwelling systemsthrough the organization of regional or subregional capacity-building workshops, as called for in paragraph 37 of decision X/29, and other means;

11.Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Germany for funding and welcomes the EBSA prototype repository and information sharing mechanism for scientific and technical information and experience related to the application of the scientific criteria (annex I to decision IX/20) as well as other relevant compatible and complementary nationally and intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria. This mechanism serves as a web-based input tool and database to assist Parties, other Governments and competent organizations in sharing scientific and technical information and experience related to the application of the scientific criteria for EBSAs in annex I of decision IX/20, as well as other relevant compatible and complementary nationally and intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria, and provides scientific information and data to the regional workshops convened by the Executive Secretary, as called for in paragraph 36 of decision X/29 and paragraph 9 above, to describe areas meeting the scientific criteria for EBSAs and other relevant criteria;

12.Requests the Executive Secretary to further develop, subject to availability of financial resources, the prototype repository and information-sharing mechanism into a fully functional repository and information sharing mechanism so that it can fully serve the purpose called for in paragraph 39 of decision X/29, in collaboration with Parties, other Governments, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO-IOC), in particular the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), the World Conservation Monitoring Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-WCMC), Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative, and other competent organizations, noting the need to have a clear distinction between the repository containing the information included on the basis of endorsements by the Conference of the Parties as called for in paragraph 42 of decision X/29 and other information entered in the information sharing mechanism, and report on progress to a meeting of the Subsidiary Body prior to twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention;

13.Encourages Parties, other Governments and intergovernmental organizations to develop regional data inventories with metadata, taking into consideration their confidentiality, where applicable, which are linked to the information-sharing mechanism (paragraph 39 of decision X/29) and other relevant data sources, in order to track the location of datasets used in the description of areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs by the regional workshops, to be undertaken in the remaining regions, as referred to in paragraph 36 of decision X/29 and paragraph 9 above, and, recalling paragraph 41 of decision X/29, requests the Executive Secretary to make the scientific information and data sets compiled by the regional workshops available to Parties, other Governments and intergovernmental organizations for their use according to their competencies, and report on progress of such collaboration to a meeting of the Subsidiary Body prior to twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention;

14.Recalling paragraph 18 of decision IX/20) and paragraph 43 of decision X/29, requests Parties, and other Governments to further provide for inclusion in the repository or information-sharing mechanism, as determined by submitting Parties or Governments, scientific and technical information and experience relating to the application of the criteria in annex I to decision IX/20 or other relevant compatible and complementary nationally and intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria to areas within national jurisdiction before the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

15.Welcomes the work of the Executive Secretary, generously funded by the Government of Germany, to develop the EBSA training manual and modules, as contained in document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/9, and requests the Executive Secretary to further refine the training manual and modules, as necessary, including further consultation with Parties and the development of training materials on the use of traditional knowledge. When suitably revised, requests the Executive Secretary to translate the EBSA training manual and modules into the official United Nations languages, and invites Parties, other Governments and United Nations specialized agencies to use these training materials and other means, as appropriate, and, as far as possible, make necessary resources available for this purpose, in order to enhance the scientific and technical capacity within respective countries and regions with regard to describing areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs;

16.Requests the Executive Secretary to collaborate with Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to strengthen the capacities of countries in scientific staff training and report the progress for consideration at a meeting of the Subsidiary Body prior to the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

17.Requests the Executive Secretary to facilitate, subject to availability of financial resources, the organization of training workshops using these training materials in support of future scientific description of areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs at national and regional levels as well as identification of EBSAs by States and competent intergovernmental organizations;

18.Welcomes the report Identifying specific elements for integrating the traditional, scientific, technical and technological knowledge of indigenous and local communities, and social and cultural criteria and other aspects for the application of scientific criteria for identification of EBSAs as well as the establishment and management of marine protected areas (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/10), noting that the best available scientific and technical knowledge, including relevant traditional knowledge, should be the basis for the description of areas that meet the criteria for EBSAs, that additional social and cultural information may be relevant in any subsequent step of selecting conservation and management measures, and that indigenous and local communities should be included in this process, as appropriate;

19.Invites Parties, other Governments and competent intergovernmental organizations, and relevant indigenous and local communities, to make use of the guidance on integration of traditional knowledge in the report mentioned in paragraph 18 above, with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, where applicable, in any future description of areas that meet the EBSA criteria and for the development of conservation and management measures, and report on progress in this regard to the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention;

20.Notes that socially and culturally significant areas may require enhanced conservation and management measures, and that criteria for the identification of areas relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in need of such enhanced measures due to their social, cultural and other significance may need to be developed, with appropriate scientific and technical rationales;

21.Urges Parties and invites other Governments, the financial mechanism, and funding organizations to provide adequate, timely, and sustainable support to the implementation of training and capacity building and other activities related to EBSAs, especially for developing countries, in particular least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as Parties with economies in transition.