Decision COP VI/25

1. Welcomes the second national reports and the thematic reports submitted by Parties in accordance with decision V/19;

3. Requests the Executive Secretary to:

4. Invites Parties to submit thematic reports on mountain ecosystems, protected areas or areas where special measures need to be taken to conserve biological diversity, and transfer of technology and technology cooperation in accordance with the formats prepared by the Executive Secretary, which should identify priorities in national biodiversity strategies and action plans, impediments to implementation, and existing and potential areas of cooperation and capacity-building, and aim to support the work of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice; 

5. Requests the Global Environment Facility, as the institutional structure operating the financial mechanism, to continue to provide, in a timely manner, support to eligible countries for the preparation of national reports;

6. Welcomes the publication of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and decides that the Global Biodiversity Outlook should continue to be prepared as a periodic report on biological diversity and implementation of the Convention, and be made available in all official United Nations languages;

7. Decides that the second edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook should be prepared for publication in 2004, drawing upon information contained in the second national reports, the thematic reports on the items for in-depth consideration at its sixth and seventh meetings, and on the review of progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan to be undertaken in 2003;

8. Welcomes the work of the United Nations Environment Programme on the harmonization of environmental reporting and encourages its continuation, whilst recognizing the need to ensure that this does not affect the ability of the Conference of the Parties to adjust national reporting procedures under the Convention in order to better meet the needs of Parties;

9. Takes note of the difficulty experienced by some developing countries and countries with economies in transition in accessing funding for preparing their second national reports, and requests the Secretariat of the Convention and the Global Environmental Facility to explore innovative funding modalities for facilitating the preparation of future national reports and thematic reports;

10. Approves the formats for thematic reports on mountain ecosystems, protected areas or areas where special measures need to be taken to conserve biological diversity, and transfer of technology and technology cooperation, as contained in annexes I to III below, with the respective deadlines for submission of 31 October 2002, 30 March 2003 and 30 March 2003.