Decision COP V/15

1.Establishes a programme of work that promotes the development and implementation of social, economic and legal incentive measures for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, in synergy with specific programmes of work, in order to:

(a)Support Parties, Governments and organizations in developing practical policies and projects;

2.Decides that the activities of the programme of work should result in the following:

(a)The assessment of representative existing incentive measures, review of case-studies, identification of new opportunities for incentive measures, and dissemination of information, through the clearing-house mechanism and other means, as appropriate;

(b)The development of methods to promote information on biodiversity in consumer decisions, for example through ecolabelling, if appropriate;

(c)The assessment, as appropriate and applicable to the circumstances of Parties, of the values of biodiversity, in order to internalize better these values in public policy initiatives and private sector decisions;

(d)A consideration of biodiversity concerns in liability schemes;

3.Requests the Executive Secretary to collaborate with relevant organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, and IUCN-The World Conservation Union, in order to engage in a coordinated effort, and undertake through such an effort, as a first phase:

(a)To gather and disseminate additional information on instruments in support of positive incentives and their performance, and to develop a matrix identifying the range of instruments available, their purpose, interaction with other policy measures and effectiveness, with a view to identifying and designing relevant instruments, where appropriate, in support of positive measures;

(b)To continue gathering information on perverse incentive measures, and on ways and means to remove or mitigate their negative impacts on biological diversity, through case-studies and lessons learned, and consider how these ways and means may be applied;