Decision COP VI/22

The Conference of the Parties

Expert group meetings and other inter-sessional meetings

1. Welcomes the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity established by the Conference of the Parties at its fifth meeting(41), and takes note of the assessment of status and trends of, and major threats to, forest biological diversity contained in the report;

2. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Canada and to the Government of the United Kingdom for their financial support to the work of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity, and to the other Governments and international organizations for the participation of their representatives;

3. Also expresses its gratitude to the Co-Chairs, the experts and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity for their work regarding the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity;

4. Welcomes the report of the Workshop on Forests and Biological Diversity, held in Accra from 28 to 30 January 2002 and takes note of the recommendations of the Workshop for an effective collaboration on forests and biodiversity among the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Forum on Forests, and their partners contained in the report;

5. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Ghana for hosting the Workshop on Forests and Biological Diversity and the Government of the Netherlands for its financial support, and to the other Governments and international organizations for the participation of their representatives;

6. Expresses its gratitude to the Co-Chairs, the experts and the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Forum on Forests for their work regarding the Workshop;

7. Welcomes the report of the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biological Diversity and Climate Change, held in Helsinki from 21 to 25 January 2002, and expresses its gratitude to the Government of Finland for hosting the workshop and the Government of Switzerland for financial support, and to the Co-Chairs and the experts;

8. Takes note of the report of the Expert Meeting on Harmonization of Forest-related Definitions, held in Rome from 23 to 25 January 2002, under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Center for International Forestry Research, and other partners;

9. Welcomes the establishment of the liaison group of the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and encourages the activities of the group in promoting complementarity and synergies in their activities on forests and forest ecosystems;

Expanded programme of work

Noting that the elements for an expanded programme of work on forest biological diversity developed by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, as annexed to its recommendation VII/6, constitute a comprehensive set of goals, objectives and activities required for the conservation of forest biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of forest genetic resources,

Underlining the sovereign rights and responsibilities of countries over their forests and the biodiversity within them;

11. Recognizes that Parties should implement the expanded programme of work on forest biological diversity in the context of their national priorities and needs. Activities implemented domestically by Parties will be prioritized based on country and regionally specific needs, national determination, legislation, circumstances and priorities concerning forest-related issues, and their national forest and biodiversity strategies. Inclusion of an activity in the work programme does not mean relevance of that activity to all Parties;

12. Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to take note of the information pertaining to potential actors, timeframes, performance measures and indicators of progress contained in the note by the Executive Secretary on the subject;

13. Expresses the need for action to ensure conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of utilization of genetic resources, and arising from the utilization of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices from indigenous and local communities, in accordance with Article 8(j) and related provisions, of all types of forests, considering the need for urgent action for forests that are ecologically significant and/or most important for biological diversity on national and regional scales and according to national priorities, where forest biodiversity loss or threats of loss are significant or of great concern, and in areas with greatest potential for conservation, sustainable use and benefit-sharing;

14. Recognizes that all the activities in the work programme are important, though not equally for all Parties, and as a package of mainly nationally prioritized activities, will contribute significantly to advancing the Convention's objectives as stated in Article 1 of the Convention;

15. Recognizes the important role of international and regional organizations and processes in supporting Parties in their implementation of the work programme, agrees that these organizations and processes are important in the implementation of the programme of work, and invites their participation in its implementation;

16. Urges donors and the international community to contribute through financing and technology transfer to country-identified or regionally-identified priorities for forest biodiversity, with an understanding of the impact of scarce resources on the effective implementation of the objectives of the Convention;

17. Agrees that the availability of new and additional financial resources from public, private, domestic or international sources, with the transfer of technology and capacity-building is necessary to facilitate the effective implementation of the expanded work programme by developing countries, in particular the least developed and small island developing States among them, and in countries with economies in transition;

18. Recognizes that the work programme contains a number of activities that call for regional and international actions and collaboration and encourages Parties, other Governments and international and regional organizations and processes to collaborate on the implementation of regional and international activities;

19. Requests the Executive Secretary to initiate the following actions addressing some initial focus areas which are identified as important first steps towards the implementation of regional and international activities of the expanded programme of work, which should facilitate or complement national implementation. The initiation of these actions should not delay implementation of other activities within the expanded work programme at international, regional or national level:

20. Invites Parties, other Governments and funding organizations to provide adequate and timely financial support to facilitate the international and regional actions. These actions should not prejudice the financing and support for other international and regional actions in the work programme including projects by Parties and other Governments in the context of their national priorities;

21. Requests Parties to report on progress in implementing relevant objectives and related activities of the expanded programme of work on forest biological diversity, through their national reports, starting with the third national report, bearing in mind the national reporting cycles of Parties;

22. Requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with Collaborative Partnership on Forests members, to develop a format for the section on implementation of the expanded work programme on forest biological diversity in the third and subsequent national reports, and to consider the need to minimize the reporting burden on Parties by taking into account reporting under the United Nations Forum on Forests and other international mechanisms;

23. Requests the Executive Secretary in consultation with the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and the clearing-house mechanism focal points and using appropriate mechanisms, to identify and/or foster partners, partnerships, and regional and international cooperative initiatives to undertake or support implementation activities under the programme of work;

24. Requests the Executive Secretary to compile information on the implementation of the programme of work, including information on the actors involved in the implementation, disseminate this through the clearing-house mechanism, and provide progress reports on implementation to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at each meeting;

25. Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to review implementation of the programme of work, with a view to identifying appropriate amendments that will further implementation of the Convention in relation to forest biological diversity, and to report thereon to Conference of the Parties at its eighth meeting;

26. Agrees to establish an ad hoc technical expert group to provide advice to the Executive Secretary and to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice in the review of the implementation of the programme of work, with the following terms of reference:

27. Agrees that a voluntary thematic national report will be called for in relation to implementation of the programme of work on forest biological diversity by Parties, to elicit information on:

National level

28. Urges Parties and other Governments to incorporate relevant objectives and related activities of the programme of work into their national biodiversity strategies and action plans and national forest programmes and promote compatibility and complementarity between these plans/programmes and other related initiatives;

29. Invites Parties to undertake national-level implementation and to coordinate their work relating to forest biological diversity at an international level, particularly in respect of work relating to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Forum on Forests, as well as other relevant bodies, and to achieve greater integration and collaboration between their implementing agencies at the national level through, for example, joint strategies or policies, and coordinating committees at political and/or technical levels;

30. Urges Parties and other governments to address the effectiveness of forest and forest-related laws and their enforcement and implementation of policies and related trade as a matter of urgency, recognizing the negative impacts on biodiversity in the absence of these actions;

31. Recognizes the important role that indigenous and local communities can play in the implementation of the programme of work and, in addition, encourages the development of community-based approaches for the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity, integrating traditional forest-related knowledge and benefit-sharing considerations, in accordance with Article 8(j) and related provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity;

32. Urges Parties to recognize in particular the vital role that women in indigenous and local communities play in the sustainable use and conservation of forest biological diversity, especially but not limited to the sustainable use and conservation of non-timber resources, and values;

33. Encourages Parties and other Governments to develop closer collaboration for the conservation and sustainable use of transboundary forest ecosystems and populations of species;

34. Recognizes existing criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management including forest biological diversity at the national and regional levels, and agrees that these should be applied where criteria and indicators are needed for the purposes of the expanded work programme, and recognizes the need for further development and selection of criteria and indicators for the assessment of the status and trends of forest biological diversity at the national and regional levels;

Collaboration on specific issues

Noting that both the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Forum on Forests have important and complementary roles in addressing the problem of forest biological diversity loss, that collaboration between the United Nations Forum on Forests and the Convention on Biological Diversity can strengthen their ability to support and guide immediate and effective action by governments and other bodies, and that such collaboration will also facilitate the integration of forest biodiversity considerations in national development programmes, which will be vital for effective implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity,

Recognizing that there are many other bodies addressing issues of relevance to forest biodiversity (for example, other members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests including in particular the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), and collaboration with these bodies is also important,

35. Invites Parties to foster cooperation and synergies between the expanded work programme on forest biological diversity under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Multi-Year Programme of Work and Plan of Action of the United Nations Forum on Forests;

36. Requests the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, as a member of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests , to continue its active support for and participation in the work of the United Nations Forum on Forests and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests in their promotion of the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests and in the strengthening of the political commitment to this end;

37. Requests the Executive Secretary to implement collaborative actions for selected items in the expanded programme of work on forest biological diversity, in collaboration with the Coordinator and Head of the Secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests, and taking into account the need for effective collaboration on forests and biological diversity among the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Forum on Forests, and their partners, recognizing the work done by the Workshop on Forests and Biological Diversity held in Accra from 28 to 30 January 2002;

38. Invites the members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests to support the implementation of the expanded programme of work on forest biological diversity, recognizing that the Collaborative Partnership on Forests provides a mechanism for enhancing collaboration on activities addressing common goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Forum on Forests;

39. Urges the Collaborative Partnership on Forests to consider the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to be the focal point for forest biological diversity within the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, in addition to its role as the focal point for traditional forest-related knowledge, and requests the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in collaboration with the Collaborative Partnership on Forests members, inter alia:

40. Also invites the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, in the context of its global change and terrestrial ecosystems global transect programme, and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to enhance collaboration in research and monitoring activities on forest biological diversity and climate change, and explore possibilities of establishing an international network to monitor and assess the impact of climate change on forest biological diversity;

41. Further invites the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biological Diversity and Climate Change to consider issues related to interlinkages between biological diversity and climate change in the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity and the note by the Executive Secretary on consideration of specific threats to forest biological diversity, prepared for the seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice(47, as well as the outcome of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties with respect to forest biological diversity, including the expanded programme of work on forest biological diversity;

42. Requests the Executive Secretary, on the basis of goal 4, objective 2, of programme element 1 for an expanded work programme on forest biological diversity, to establish a liaison group on non-timber forest resources, including members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, IUCN, and other relevant organizations. On the basis of the work of the liaison group, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice will prepare recommendations on this matter for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its seventh meeting;

43. Invites members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and its network to explore possibilities for enhancing the integration of non-timber forest resources in the forest inventory and management, and to report on progress to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice prior to the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

44. Invites the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Tropical Timber Organization and the Global Fire Monitoring Center, as well as other relevant organizations, to include forest biodiversity in their assessments of fire impacts; to explore possibilities for a joint work programme with the Convention on Biological Diversity, including, inter alia, fire impact assessments, development of guidelines on fire management, and community-based approaches to fire prevention and management; and to report on progress to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice prior to the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

45. Requests the Executive Secretary to transmit the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and their bodies, to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and to ensure follow-up through the liaison group between the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.