Decision COP VII/15

1.Welcomes the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biological Diversity and Climate Change (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/11 and UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/INF/12) as scientific advice provided in response to paragraphs 11 and 18 of decision V/4, as a basis for future work;

2.Invites Parties, other Governments, international organizations and other bodies to make use of the report on climate change and biodiversity prepared by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biological Diversity and Climate Change in order to promote synergies at the national level between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol and the Convention on Biological Diversity, when implementing climate-change activities and their relation to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity;

4.Notes with appreciation that the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has welcomed the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group and has encouraged Parties to the UNFCCC to make use of it for their national purposes as a relevant source of useful information for their national purposes;

5.Notes that the Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands at its eighth meeting adopted resolution VIII/3 on climate change and wetlands, which, inter alia, called on relevant countries to take action to minimize the degradation as well as promote the restoration of those peatlands and other wetland types that are significant carbon stores or have the ability to sequester carbon and supports the request by the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to prepare a technical paper on the relationship between wetlands and climate change; 

6. Welcomes the proposed assessment on peatlands biodiversity and climate change being undertaken by Wetlands International and the Global Environment Center with the support of UNEP GEF, the Government of Canada, the Netherlands and others and encourages the involvement of parties in this assessment and in preparations for the consideration of its findings by SBSTTA prior to the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

7.Notes also that there are opportunities to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in ways that are mutually beneficial and synergistic, and that contribute simultaneously to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and other international agreements, all within broader national development objectives; 

8.Further notes that the ecosystem approach provides a framework for the integrated management of land, water and living resources. Its application could facilitate the formulation of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects that also contribute to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use at the national level;

9.Invites Parties, other Governments, international organizations and other bodies to facilitate building capacity related to accessing information and tools, and for enhancing coordination at national level to ensure that climate change mitigation and adaptation projects deliver environmental and social benefits and are consistent with national priorities;

10.Calls for where national circumstances allow case-studies on interlinkages between biodiversity and climate change following a common format developed by the joint liaison group; 

11.Invites Parties, Governments, funding agencies, research bodies and other organizations to address the gaps identified in the Report in order to help to optimize biodiversity conservation and sustainable use within climate change adaptation projects, as well as mitigation projects addressing the adverse effects of human activities over the long term at the national, regional, and global levels;

12.Encourages Parties to take measures to manage ecosystems so as to maintain their resilience extreme climate events and to help mitigate and adapt to climate change; 

13.Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, with the support of the Executive Secretary, to ensure that the results of the report on climate change and biodiversity prepared by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group are incorporated into the ongoing work of the Convention on Biological Diversity, whenever appropriate, when the respective programmes of work are due for review according to the Multi Year Programme of Work of the Conference of the Parties (decision VII/31) and in particular, in the programmes of work on forest biodiversity, marine and coastal biodiversity, mountain biodiversity, inland water biodiversity, biodiversity of dry and sub-humid lands, agricultural biodiversity, indicators, impact assessment, and incentive measures, without implying obligations on Parties additional to those under the Convention on Biological Diversity;