Decision EM-2/1

The Conference of the Parties,

Recalling its decision 14/37, in which it approved the budget for the biennium 2019-2020, and requested the Executive Secretary to prepare proposals for the budget for the biennium 2021-2022,

Considering that the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties has been postponed until 2021 due to constraints arising from the COVID-19 pandemic,

Noting the need, therefore, to make arrangements to allow the continued functioning of the bodies and processes of the Convention, including its Secretariat and the meetings of the Conference of the Parties and its subsidiary bodies,

Taking note of the proposal of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties that, on an exceptional basis, the Parties consider and approve an interim budget for 2021 through agreed modalities,

Recalling its decision 14/37, table 1b, whereby two (2) meetings of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework were included in the core budget, with any additional meetings to be held subject to the availability of resources, and noting that the holding of the second meeting of the Working Group in Rome, in February 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation has consequences for the funding of a third meeting of the Working Group,

Taking note of the note by the Executive Secretary,

Recognizing the exceptional nature of the circumstances arising from the pandemic and expressing solidarity among all Parties as they face its human and economic impacts,

1. Confirms that the present decision is supplementary to decision 14/37, which remains in effect until the next ordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties and whose provisions will apply also to the year 2021, unless otherwise provided for in the present decision;

2. Decides to extend  up to 31 December 2021, or, in the case that the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties is not held during 2021, until the end of the month following the closure of the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the validity of the funds allocated in the 2019-2020 budget associated with the costs of the meetings of the Conference of the Parties and its subsidiary bodies that are postponed from the biennium 2019-2020, and authorizes the carry-over of these funds, estimated at 2,815,653 United States dollars to be spent in 2021 for the purposes listed in table 1 below;

3. Approves, on an exceptional basis, a core programme budget for the Convention of 12,411,743 United States dollars for the year 2021, representing 74 per cent of the integrated interim budget of 16 772 626 United States dollars for the year 2021, for the purposes listed in tables 2a and 2b below;

4. Decides to share all costs for secretariat services among the Convention, the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol on a ratio of 74:15:11 for the year 2021;

5. Expresses its appreciation to the Government of Canada as the host country for its renewed support to the Secretariat, and welcomes the contribution of 2,072,000 Canadian dollars for the year 2021 from the host country and the Province of Quebec for the rental and associated costs of the Secretariat in Montreal, to be allocated on a ratio of 74:15:11 and to offset contributions from the Parties to the Convention, the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol, respectively, for the year 2021;

6. Adopts the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses for 2021 in accordance with the current scale of assessments of the United Nations as contained in table 4 below;

7. Also adopts the staffing table (table 3) of the Secretariat for the year 2021, to be used for costing purposes to set the overall budget;

8. Requests the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme to provide information relevant to a review of the post of Deputy Executive Secretary for the Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting, for consideration in the context of the overall staffing needs of the Secretariat;

9. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into commitments up to the level of the approved budget, drawing on available cash resources, including unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income, in accordance with decisions of the Conference of the Parties and the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations Environment Programme;

10. Also authorizes the Executive Secretary to transfer resources among the programmes, between each of the main appropriation lines set out in table 2b below up to an aggregate of 15 per cent of the total programme budget, provided that a further limitation of up to a maximum of 25 per cent of each such appropriation line shall apply;

11. Acknowledges the extraordinary circumstances arising from the pandemic and agrees on an exceptional basis to deviate from footnote 4 of table 1b of decision 14/37, and to allow for the use of up to $395,500 from the reserves for the third meeting of the Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework to support the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework if voluntary finance is not found by 31 December 2020;

12. Requests the Executive Secretary to continue to actively make calls for voluntary contributions until that date;

13. Invites all Parties to the Convention to note that contributions to the core programme budgets (BY, BG and BB) are due on 1 January of the year for which those contributions have been budgeted and to pay them promptly, and requests that Parties be notified of the amount of their contributions as early as possible in the year preceding the year in which the contributions are due;

14. Notes with concern that a number of Parties have not paid their contributions to the core budgets (BY, BG and BB Trust Funds) for 2020 and prior years, including Parties that have never paid their contributions, and emphasizes the urgency for the Secretariat to find economies and savings to conduct operations amid uncertain circumstances;

15. Notes that the trust funds for the Convention and its Protocols (BY, BG and BB) should be extended for a period of two years beginning 1 January 2022 and ending 31 December 2023, and requests the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme to seek the approval of the United Nations Environment Assembly for their extension;

16. Notes that the voluntary trust funds (BE, BZ, VB) for the Convention and its Protocols should be extended for a period of four years beginning 1 January 2022 and ending 31 December 2025, and requests the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme to seek the approval of the United Nations Environment Assembly for their extension;

17. Affirms that this decision is without prejudice to further decisions to be taken by the Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting, and agrees to review, at its next ordinary meeting, the modalities for following up on budgetary decisions during the intersessional period;

18. Requests the Executive Secretary: