First meeting of the Working Group on Review of Implementation

The first meeting of the Working Group on Review of Implementation was held in September 2005 in Montreal. Its mandate, as set out in decision VII/30, paragraph 23, comprised the following:

• to consider progress in the implementation of the Convention and the Strategic Plan and achievements leading up to the 2010 Target in line with the multi-year programme of work for the Conference of the Parties;
• to review the impacts and effectiveness of existing processes under the Convention, such as meetings of the Conference of the Parties, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, national focal points, and the Secretariat, as part of the overall process for improving the operations of the Convention and implementation of the Strategic Plan; and
• to consider ways and means of identifying and overcoming obstacles to the effective implementation of the Convention.

An additional task of the Working Group was to consider ongoing work to establish ways of enhancing cooperation between the major biodiversity-related organizations and secretariats (decision VII/26, paragraph 5).

There are a number of other points raised in decisions VII/30 and VI/26 that were addressed by the Working Group. These were:

• to examine options for a flexible framework between all relevant actors, such as a global partnership on biodiversity, in order to enhance implementation through improved cooperation (decision VII/26, paragraph 3);
• to address explicitly the need to provide focused support and improve existing support mechanisms where obstacles to implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans have been identified, particularly when considering the results of the evaluation of progress in achievement of the goals and mission of the Strategic Plan as well as the goals and sub-targets established in this decision (decision VII/30, paragraph 26);
• to review methods to evaluate progress in the implementation of other multilateral environmental agreements, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (decision V/20, paragraph 41) (decision VII/30, paragraph 27).

The Working Group also took into account the following recommendations made by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at its tenth meeting:

• to consider a revised draft of the Operational Plan of the Bureau of the SBSTTA, including methods and modalities for scientific assessments initiated by SBSTTA (recommendation X/2, paragraph 3);
• to receive a report on options for the identification of process indicators for the four global goals of the Strategic Plan of the Convention (recommendation X/5, paragraph 12(f));
• to consider the linkages between the process for assessing progress towards the 2010 Target, including the use of indicators, and national reporting, with a view to streamlining future national reporting (recommendation X/5, paragraph 13).