Decision COP 14/6

Recalling decision III/11, annex III, decision V/5, decision VI/5, and decision XIII/15,

Noting the importance of pollinators and pollination for all ecosystems, including those beyond agricultural and food production systems, particularly to the livelihoods and culture of indigenous peoples and local communities, and recognizing the important contribution of activities to promote the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators and pollination functions and services in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets as well as the Sustainable Development Goals,

Convinced that activities to promote the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators and pollination functions and services are key elements in the transition towards the achievement of more sustainable food systems by fostering the adoption of more sustainable practices among agricultural sectors and across sectors,

1. Adopts the Plan of Action 2018-2030 for the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators as contained in annex I to the present decision, for implementation according to national legislation and national circumstances;

2. Takes notes with appreciation of the summary of information on the relevance of pollinators and pollination to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in all ecosystems beyond their role in agriculture and food production, contained in annex II to the present decision;

3. Encourages Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations and networks to support and implement relevant activities of the International Initiative on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators through, among other things, the integration of appropriate measures into the implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, as well as subnational and local biodiversity strategies and actions plans, as appropriate, and relevant policies, legislation, and programmes;

4. Urges Parties and invites other Governments to address the drivers of wild and managed pollinators decline in all ecosystems, including the most vulnerable biomes and agricultural systems, and, as identified in annex II to the present decision, paying especially close attention at both the local and regional scales to the risk of introducing and spreading invasive alien species (plants, pollinators, predators, pests, parasites and pathogens) that are harmful to pollinators and to the plant resources on which they depend, and to avoiding or reversing land degradation and to restoring lost or fragmented pollinator habitats, in addition to addressing the drivers identified in decision XIII/15;

5. Encourages Parties and invites other Governments to integrate the conservation and sustainable use of wild and managed pollinators and their habitats into land management and protected areas and other effective area-based conservation policies;

6. Encourages Parties and invites other Governments:

7. Encourages the Global Environment Facility and other donors and funding agencies to provide financial assistance, including capacity-building activities, for national and regional projects that address the implementation of the Plan of Action for the sustainable use and conservation of pollinators;

8. Requests the Executive Secretary to bring the present recommendation to the attention of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and its Committee on Forestry, the Committee on Agriculture, the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the Committee on World Food Security, and the secretariats of the International Plant Protection Convention and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as well as the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions;

9. Invites the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to facilitate the implementation of the Plan of Action, following the successful approach of the previous plan involving ministries of agriculture and environment at the national level;

10. Also requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources, and in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and other relevant stakeholders, to develop guidelines and best practices in relevant areas, determined in accordance with the level of priority for the implementation of the Plan of Action, such as, among others, the use of chemicals in agriculture, protection programmes for native pollinators in natural ecosystems, promotion of biodiverse production systems, crop rotation, monitoring of native pollinators, and environmental education;

11. Requests the Executive Secretary to consider the conservation and sustainable use of wild and managed pollinators in preparations for the post 2020-global biodiversity framework;

12. Invites Parties, other Governments, research institutions and organizations that are in a position to do so to support countries that need (a) to increase taxonomic capacity in order to improve knowledge about pollinators, their status and trends, (b) to identify drivers of change in their populations, and (c) to develop appropriate solutions to enable effective adoption and implementation of the proposed action plan.