Decision COP VII/28

10. Calls Parties to estimate the cost to implement the necessary activities to meet the targets of the programme of work, review the effectiveness in using existing financial resources and identify the unmet costs and report back to COP8;

11. Calls on Parties and development agencies to integrate within their development strategies (such as country assistance strategies, poverty reduction strategies and national development strategies) protected area objectives and reflect the contributions of protected areas to sustainable development, as a means to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 7 on environmental sustainability;

12. Underlines the importance of conservation of biological diversity not only within but also outside protected areas by promoting sustainable use of natural resources in order to achieve a significant reduction of the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 and therefore also calls for increased efforts to integrate biodiversity conservation and restoration aspects into sectoral policies and programmes; 

13. Invites Parties to consider options, in the context of implementing the programme of work, such as ecological networks/, ecological corridors/, buffer zones and other related approaches in order to follow up the WSSD Plan of Implementation and the conclusions of Inter-Sessional Meeting on the Multi-Year Programme of Work of the Conference of the Parties up to 2010;

Status and trends of, and threats to, protected areas

14. Welcomes the work carried out by SBSTTA on documents on status and trends of, and threats to, protected areas prepared by the Executive Secretary (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/5);

15. Agrees that the indicative list of categories set out in Annex I of the Convention should guide the selection of protected areas and areas where special measures need to be taken to conserve biological diversity;

16. Recognizes that, while the number and extent of protected areas has been increasing in the past decades, so that around 11 per cent of the world’s land surface is currently in protected status, existing systems of protected areas are neither representative of the world’s ecosystems, nor do they adequately address conservation of critical habitat types, biomes and threatened species, and, with marine areas particularly under-represented actions need to be taken to fill these gaps;

17. Recognizes that the inadequacy of knowledge and awareness of the threat to, and the role and value, of biodiversity, insufficient financial sustainability and support, poor governance, ineffective management and insufficient participation, pose fundamental barriers to achieving the protected areas objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and stresses the need for Parties to adequately address these issues;

Overall objective

18. Adopts the programme of work on protected areas annexed to the present decision with the objective of the establishment and maintenance by 2010 for terrestrial and by 2012 for marine areas of comprehensive, effectively managed, and ecologically representative national and regional systems of protected areas that collectively, inter alia through a global network/ contribute to achieving the three objectives of the Convention and the 2010 target to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss;

19. Urges Parties to achieve fully the goals and targets of the work programme while recognizing that Parties should implement the activities of the programme of work on protected areas, as annexed to the present decision, in the context of their nationally determined priorities, capacities and needs;

Programme of work

20. Affirms that aspects related to marine and coastal protected areas in decision VII/5 on marine and coastal biological diversity, be considered an integral part of the Convention’s work on protected areas;

21. Urges concerned Parties, individually and collectively, to take further steps in curbing the illegal exploitation and trade of resources, particularly from existing protected areas and from areas of ecological importance for biodiversity conservation;

22. Recalls the obligations of Parties towards indigenous and local communities in accordance with Article 8(j) and related provisions and notes that the establishment, management and monitoring of protected areas should take place with the full and effective participation of, and full respect for the rights of, indigenous and local communities consistent with national law and applicable international obligations; 

23. Urges Parties to elaborate outcome-oriented targets for the extent, representativeness and effectiveness of their national systems of protected areas, taking into account the Strategic Plan of the Convention the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Millennium Development Goals, as well as any targets adopted by the Conference of the Parties to facilitate monitoring of the progress towards achievement of the 2010 target;

24. Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to provide scientific and technical advice on the implementation of the programme of work. This work should draw inter alia upon the input of Parties and other Governments, the work of relevant United Nations organizations and conventions, the work of the IUCN - World Commission on Protected Areas, the outcomes of the Fifth IUCN World Congress on Protected Areas, and the work of relevant indigenous and local communities, and non-governmental organizations;

25. Decides to establish an ad hoc open ended working group on protected areas to support and review implementation of the programme of work and report to the Conference of the Parties; 

26. Requests the Executive Secretary to make arrangements to hold at least one meeting of the ad hoc open ended working group on protected areas before COP8 subject to the availability of the necessary voluntary contributions 

27. Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to organize regional technical workshops to advance implementation of and assess the progress in implementation of the programme of work; 

28. Decides to assess at each meeting of the Conference of the Parties until 2010, progress in the implementation of the programme of work, and to determine the need for more effective measures and additional financial and technical support; to reach the 2010 target;

29. Suggests the following tasks need to be undertaken by the ad hoc open ended working group

30. Urges Parties and invites other Governments, and relevant organizations to report to the Executive Secretary on implementation of this decision and the programme of work prior to each meeting of the Conference of the Parties until 2010; 

31. Recognizes the value of a single international classification system for protected areas and the benefit of providing information that is comparable across countries and regions and therefore welcomes the ongoing efforts of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas to refine the IUCN system of categories and encourages Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to assign protected-area management categories to their protected areas, providing information consistent with the refined IUCN categories for reporting purposes;

32. Invites the United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre working with international organizations to further develop the World Database on Protected Areas in order to assist the monitoring of progress towards the overall objective of this decision, and urges Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to provide up-to-date information for the Database; 

Suggested supporting activities of the Executive Secretary

33. Requests the Executive Secretary to update information on status and trends of, and threats to, protected areas as part of the reviews of the implementation of the thematic programmes of work, in collaboration with Parties and relevant organizations, in particular the IUCN-WCPA;

34. Requests the Executive Secretary to strengthen collaboration with other organizations, institutions and conventions with a view to supporting implementation of the activities contained in the programme of work, promoting synergies and avoiding unnecessary duplications, and to establish a liaison group of relevant organizations including the World Heritage Convention, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Man and Biosphere programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, relevant regional conventions and other organizations to facilitate this objective;

35. Further requests the Executive Secretary to: