Decision COP XIII/29

Global Biodiversity Outlook

The Conference of the Parties,

1. Decides to initiate the preparation for a fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, which:

2. Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of financial resources, in collaboration with Parties, other Governments and indigenous peoples and local communities and relevant partners to prepare a second edition of the Local Biodiversity Outlook: Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ Contributions to the Implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which should include information on:

3. Also requests the Executive Secretary to prepare:

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

4. Welcomes the decision of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at its fourth plenary meeting, in February 2016, to undertake a global assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services, foreseen to be concluded by May 2019, and re-emphasizes the importance of this global assessment for analysing progress towards the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets;

5. Also welcomes the completion and acceptance of the methodological assessment of scenarios and models of biodiversity and ecosystem services by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and the approval of the Summary for Policy Makers by the Plenary of the Platform, and recognizes the high relevance of this assessment for work under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and, in particular, the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook;

6. Encourages Parties, and invites other Governments, relevant organizations, the scientific community, stakeholders and indigenous peoples and local communities to further develop and use scenarios and models to support decision-making and the evaluation of policies, and to contribute to the further development of scenarios and models as described by the Summary for Policymakers of the methodological assessment of scenarios and models of biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;

7. Recognizes the importance of matching scenarios to the needs of particular policy or decision contexts, including for exploring post-2020 policy scenarios, and to consider improving, and more widely applying, participatory and cross-scale scenario methods in order to enhance the relevance and use of regional, sectoral and thematic scenarios for biodiversity and ecosystem services;

8. Encourages Parties, and invites other Governments and relevant organizations, including funding organizations, to support efforts to develop human and technical capacity for scenario development and modelling needs and to promote open and transparent access to scenario and modelling tools, as well as the data required for their development and testing;

9. Invites the scientific community:

10. Requests the Executive Secretary and invites the secretariats of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to foster further enhanced collaboration between the scientific communities related to the these bodies working on scenarios and models, as well as collaboration with communities working on biodiversity monitoring and data, and the policy community;

11. Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, in accordance with decision XII/25, paragraph 5(b), to prepare a list of requests for the second work programme of the Platform, based on information compiled by the Executive Secretary, for the approval of the Conference of the Parties at its fourteenth meeting.