Decision COP XIII/12

5. Notes with satisfaction that the summary reports on the description of areas meeting the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas have informed the United Nations General Assembly, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, International Whaling Commission, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, as well as a number of regional and subregional processes, and invites competent organizations to make use of the information on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas in their relevant activities

6. Expresses appreciation to those Parties that have completed national exercises to describe areas meeting the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas or other relevant compatible and complementary nationally or intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria, and invites those Parties to consider making this information available through the EBSA repository or information-sharing mechanism;

7. Expresses appreciation to those Parties and other Governments that have participated in the regional workshops under the Convention to describe areas within or beyond their national jurisdiction meeting the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas;

8. Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of financial resources, in line with paragraph 36 of decision X/29, paragraph 12 of decision XI/17 and paragraph 6 of decision XII/22, to continue to facilitate the description of areas meeting the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas through the organization of additional regional or subregional workshops where Parties wish workshops to be held;

9. Welcomes the voluntary practical options for further enhancing scientific methodologies and approaches of the scientific and technical exercises, including collaborative arrangements, for the description of areas meeting the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, as contained in annex II to the present decision;

10. Recalling paragraphs 26, 36 and 43 of decision X/29, and paragraph 7 of decision XII/22, which set out the current process for describing areas, both within and beyond national jurisdiction, meeting the EBSA criteria, requests the Executive Secretary to continue the work set out in paragraph 10 of decision XII/22 and SBSTTA recommendation XX/3, building on discussions of the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting, by organizing an expert workshop, subject to availability of financial resources; making available the report of this workshop for subsequent peer-review by Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations; and to report on its progress to a future meeting of SBSTTA for its consideration, prior to the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The expert workshop shall have the following objectives:

11. Requests the Executive Secretary to facilitate the implementation of the voluntary practical options referred to in paragraph 9, and establish, following the guidance on the expert groups contained in the consolidated modus operandi of SBSTTA (decision VIII/10, annex III (h)), an informal advisory group for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, in accordance with the terms of reference provided in annex III to the present decision, subject to available financial resources, and report on its progress and submit the outputs of its work, after peer review, to a future meeting of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, for its consideration prior to the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

12. Recalling paragraph 24 of decision XI/17 and paragraph 15 of decision XII/22, welcomes the training manual on the use of traditional knowledge in the application of the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, and requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with Parties, other Governments, donors, and relevant organizations, including indigenous peoples and local communities, to use this training manual in organizing training activities, as appropriate and subject to the availability of financial resources;

13. Recalling paragraph 11 of decision XII/22, invites Parties, other Governments and competent intergovernmental organizations to share their experiences in undertaking scientific and technical analysis of the status of marine and coastal biodiversity in areas within their respective jurisdictions or mandates, described as meeting the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas and contained in the repository of ecologically or biologically marine significant areas, as decided by the Conference of the Parties, through national reports and/or voluntary reports, and requests the Executive Secretary to make this information available through the clearing-house mechanism and other means, as appropriate;

15. Invites Parties, as appropriate, to consider designating national focal points for the programme of work on marine and coastal biodiversity in support of the Convention’s national focal point, to facilitate effective and coordinated communication in support of the implementation of the Convention’s programme of work on marine and coastal biodiversity