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Decision COP XIII/23
CBD/COP/DEC/XIII/23

Capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, technology transfer and the clearing-house mechanism

The Conference of the Parties,
Recalling Articles 12 and 13 of the Convention as well as decisions XII/2 B, XI/2, X/5, VII/29, VIII/12, IX/14, X/16 and XI/13,
Recognizing the need for a more integrated and coherent approach to capacity-building and technical and scientific cooperation in supporting the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols as well as other biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements,
Noting with appreciation efforts by various national, regional and international organizations and initiatives, and the support provided by the Global Environment Facility, to support Parties in the effective implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets,
Taking note of the evaluation of the effectiveness of capacity-building activities supported and facilitated by the Secretariat and the analysis of gaps in capacity-building activities supporting the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, 

Noting with concern that a number of capacity-building activities which the Conference of the Parties requested in its previous decisions have not been implemented for a number of reasons, such as the difficulty of mobilizing resources from all sources,

Taking into account the special and diverse needs of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States among them, and Parties with economies in transition, as well as their limitations in accessing online tools,
Recalling the work programme for the clearing-house mechanism in support of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, 

Noting with appreciation the progress made by the Executive Secretary on the implementation of paragraphs 8, 9 and 18 of decision XII/2 B, including the progress on capacity-building, on technical and scientific cooperation, including the further development of the Bio Bridge Initiative, and the further development of the central clearing-house mechanism and national clearing-house mechanisms, 

Taking note of the background information provided in the note by the Executive Secretary entitled “Revised short-term action plan (2017-2020) to enhance and support capacity-building for the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets”, 
Informational
1.Adopts the Short-term Action Plan (2017-2020) to Enhance and Support Capacity-Building for the Implementation of the Convention and its Protocols, as contained in the annex to the present decision 
Informational
2.Takes note of the budget allocations for the implementation of the Short-term Action Plan (2017 2020) to Enhance and Support Capacity-Building for the Implementation of the Convention and its Protocols, contained in decision XIII/32 on the budget for the integrated programme of work of the Convention, decision CP-VIII/7, and decision NP-2/13;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
3. Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources, to support, facilitate or coordinate with other partners, as appropriate, the implementation of activities contained in the annex; 
Operational Active Parties Other Government(s) Relevant organizations
4.Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to contribute to the implementation of the action plan referred to in paragraph 1 above;
Operational Active Parties Other Government(s) Relevant organizations
5.Also invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to consider taking the following complementary measures to enhance the implementation of Article 12 of the Convention:
(a)Encourage and support relevant educational and training institutions to play a key role in organizing and delivering education and training programmes in order to assist Parties, indigenous peoples and local communities, and relevant stakeholders in the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols and their respective programmes of work;
(b)Encourage relevant institutions to develop new or update existing courses and programmes to address specific education and training needs for the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols as well as other biodiversity-related conventions where possible, prioritizing topics that have not been adequately covered to date and considering, as appropriate, national circumstances and Parties with similar needs and a common language;
(c)Organize targeted training courses and workshops, tailored to the needs of specific countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States among them, and countries with economies in transition, indigenous peoples and local communities, women, youth and other target groups;
(d)Provide short-term fellowships and on-the-job training opportunities to enable participants from developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States among them, and Parties with economies in transition to acquire specialized skills and gain exposure to new scientific and technological innovations;
(e)Develop and exchange additional relevant education and training materials at the national, regional and international levels and make them available through the clearing-house mechanism;
(f)Incorporate biodiversity-related education in their broader education, professional training and capacity-building programmes;
(g)Set up mechanisms to facilitate networking and sharing of experiences, best practices and lessons learned in promoting biodiversity-related education and training at all levels;
(h)Promote partnerships between Governments and academic institutions, as well as relevant organizations and centres of excellence to deliver tailored training programmes for government officials, indigenous peoples and local communities and relevant stakeholders;
(i)Further implement relevant activities under components 1 (education) and 3 (training) of the implementation plan for the programme of work on communication, education and public awareness; 
(j)Develop online courses, as appropriate, and taking into account national circumstances, and consider inviting participants from other Parties with similar needs to enhance South-South and other forms of cooperation;
(k)Share relevant information and lessons learned through the clearing-house mechanism, national reports and other relevant means and mechanisms;
Operational Active Parties
6.Invites Parties to contribute to technical and scientific cooperation by, inter alia, providing information on priority needs, offering examples of effective practices/bright spots for replication, identifying synergies with their plans, programmes and activities on science, technology, and technical and scientific cooperation, and facilitating the linking of the needs of Parties with available support for technical and scientific cooperation and share this information through the central clearing-house mechanism, and through national clearing-house mechanisms, as appropriate, and national reports;
Operational Active Parties Other Government(s)
7.Invites Parties and other Governments to encourage and support the engagement of relevant national or regional institutions, including scientific, technical and policy institutes, the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity, and indigenous peoples and local communities to contribute to technical and scientific cooperation;
Operational Parties
8.Encourages Parties to foster collaboration with the private sector to mainstream biodiversity in their work to develop specific capacity-building programmes;
Operational Parties Other Government(s)
9.Recalling paragraph 7 of decision XII/2 B, urges Parties, in particular developed country Parties, and invites other Governments and international financial institutions, regional development banks, and other multilateral financial institutions to support the establishment and maintenance of programmes for scientific and technical education and training in measures for the identification, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and its components and support such education and training to address specific priority needs identified by developing countries;
Operational Implemented
10.Decides to extend the mandate of the Informal Advisory Committee to the Clearing-house Mechanism, as defined by its operational guidelines, and to undertake a further review of that mandate at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
Informational
11.Takes note of the Web Strategy for the Convention and its Protocols prepared by the Executive Secretary and the Framework for a Communications Strategy adopted in decision XIII/22;
Operational Active Parties
12.Encourages Parties to continue their efforts to establish, sustain and further develop effective national clearing-house mechanisms in support of the implementation of their national biodiversity strategies and action plans;
Operational Active Parties
13.Recalls decision IX/30, paragraph 2(a), inviting Parties to designate a national focal point for the clearing-house mechanism, encourages duly designated national focal points for the clearing-house mechanism to work with relevant national authorized users to provide an effective system of quality assurance for the clearing-house mechanism, following the guidance on target audiences and user groups in the Web Strategy for the Convention and its Protocols;
Operational Active Parties Other Government(s) Relevant organizations
14.Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations in a position to do so to provide financial, technical and human resources to support capacity-building and technical and scientific cooperation for developing country Parties and indigenous peoples and local communities, and the further development of national clearing-house mechanisms;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
15.Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources:
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(a)To continue work to promote a more integrated and coordinated approach to capacity-building and technical and scientific cooperation, through multiple partnerships, including with biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements and other relevant conventions;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(b)To invite relevant international organizations, including United Nations bodies, to strengthen coherent action on capacity-building and through an integrated support platform of the clearing-houses of the Convention for identifying the needs of Parties and of indigenous peoples and local communities and linking them with available expertise and knowledge, using the clearing-house mechanism;
Operational Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(c)To continue efforts to take a more strategic approach in identifying and establishing partnerships with organizations and other entities that have comparative advantages in terms of expertise, resources and networks and ability to add considerable value to capacity-building efforts;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(d)To catalyse and facilitate, in collaboration with Parties, indigenous peoples and local communities, other relevant conventions, international organizations, universities, women’s and youth organizations and other relevant organizations, the implementation of the short-term action plan referred to in paragraph 1 above;
Operational Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(e)To invite Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations that may wish to contribute to the implementation of specific activities in the short-term action plan to submit their expressions of interest to the Executive Secretary;
Operational Implemented Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(f)To undertake monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes and effectiveness of ongoing capacity-building activities supported and facilitated by the Secretariat, with a view to better targeting and improving future capacity-building activities, and to report on the results to the Subsidiary Body on Implementation for consideration at its second meeting;
Operational Relevant organizations
(g)To commission an independent evaluation of the impacts, outcomes and effectiveness of the short-term action plan (2017-2020) to enhance and support capacity-building for the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols, including recommendations for improvement, to be submitted to the Subsidiary Body on Implementation for its consideration at its third meeting;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(h)To continue efforts to facilitate capacity development activities for indigenous peoples and local communities;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(i)To implement the web strategy for the Convention and its Protocols, in line with the Framework for a Communications Strategy;
Operational Implemented Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(j)To update the web strategy with priority actions to be taken before 2018 based on decisions emanating from the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the second meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing and the eighth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, in particular with actions mentioned in the short-term action plan for capacity building;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(k)To further develop the clearing-house mechanism, in line with the web strategy and with the work programme for the clearing-house mechanism in support of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;
Operational Implemented Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(l)To submit a progress report for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at its second meeting on the above elements, taking into account information provided through the national reports, the clearing-house mechanism and the Traditional Knowledge Portal;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(m)To initiate the process for preparing a long-term strategic framework for capacity-building beyond 2020, ensuring its alignment with the follow-up to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the work of the Protocols, and ensuring its coordination with the time table for the development of this framework, with a view to the timely identification of the priority capacity-building actions, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at its third meeting and for subsequent consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting;
Operational Implemented Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(n)To prepare, in the context of the process referred to in paragraph 15(m) above, terms of reference for a study to provide the knowledge base for the preparation of the long-term strategic framework for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at its second meeting and subsequently by the Conference of the Parties at its fourteenth meeting, ensuring that the study takes into account, inter alia, the implementation of the short-term action plan for capacity-building referred to in paragraph 1 above and relevant experiences reported by Parties in their national reports;
Operational Active Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity Parties Other Government(s) Relevant organizations
16.Requests the Executive Secretary, urges Parties, and invites other Governments and relevant organizations to promote synergies in accordance with decision XIII/24 on cooperation with other conventions and international organizations, when facilitating and implementing capacity-building activities.
Body
Conference of the Parties (COP)

Meeting
COP-13
Thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
4 - 17 December, 2016
Cancun, Mexico

Elements of decision
1 1 Informational
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