XI/31.Administration of the Convention and budget for the programme of work for the biennium 2013-2014

1.Expresses its appreciation to Canada as the host country for its significantly enhanced support to the Secretariat and welcomes its annual contribution of US$ 1,126,162 for 2012, to be increased at 2 per cent per year, from the host country Canada and the Province of Quebec to the operation of the Secretariat, of which 83.5 per cent has been allocated per annum to offset contributions from the Parties to the Convention for the biennium 2013-2014; ⁴⁹

2.Decides that the trust funds (BY, BE, BZ VB) for the Convention should be extended for a period of two years, beginning 1 January 2014 and ending 31 December 2015 and requests the Executive Director of UNEP to seek the approval of the Governing Council for their extension;

3.Approves a core (BY) programme budget of $12,994,100 for the year 2013 and of $13,580,800 for the year 2014 for the purposes listed in the Tables 1a and 1b below;

4.Adopts the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses for 2013 and 2014 as contained in the Table 6 below;

5.Approves a Secretariat staffing table for the programme budget contained in Table 2 below;

6.Decides, except as otherwise noted in the staffing table, to share the costs of Secretariat services that are common to the Convention of the Biological Diversity and the Biosafety Protocol in the ratio of 85:15 for the biennium 2013-2014;

7.Reaffirms a working capital reserve at a level of 5 per cent of the core programme budget (BY Trust Fund) expenditure, including programme support costs;

8.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;

9.Authorizes the Executive Secretary to transfer resources among the programmes between each of the main appropriation lines set out in Table 1a 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;

10.Invites all Parties to the Convention to note that contributions to the core programme budget (BY) are due on 1 January of the year in which these contributions have been budgeted for, and to pay them promptly, and urges Parties in a position to do so, to pay by 1 December of the year 2012 for the calendar year 2013 and by 1 October 2013 for the calendar year 2014, the contributions set out in Table 6 (scale of assessment) below and in this regard 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;

11.Notes with concern that a number of Parties have not paid their contributions to the core budget (BY Trust Fund) for 2011 and prior years;

12.Urges Parties that have still not paid their contributions to the core budget (BY Trust Fund) for 2011 and prior years; to do so without delay and requests the Executive Secretary to publish and regularly update information on the status of contributions to the Convention's Trust Funds (BY, BE, BZ and VB);

13.Decides that with regard to contributions due from 1 January 2005 onwards, Parties whose contributions are in arrears for two (2) or more years will not be eligible to become a member of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties; this will only apply in the case of Parties that are not least developed countries or small island developing States;

14.Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into arrangements with any Party whose contributions are in arrears for two or more years to mutually agree on a "schedule of payments" for such a Party, to clear all outstanding arrears, within six years depending on the financial circumstances of the Party in arrears and pay future contributions by the due date, and report on the implementation of any such arrangement to the next meeting of the Bureau and to the Conference of the Parties;

15.Decides that a Party with an agreed arrangement in accordance with paragraph 14 above and that is fully respecting the provisions of that arrangement will not be subject to the provisions of paragraph 13 above;

16.Requests the Executive Secretary and invites the President of the Conference of the Parties through a jointly signed letter to notify Parties whose contributions are in arrears and to invite them to take timely action;

17.Takes note of the funding estimates for the: and urges Parties to make contributions to those funds and to the VB Trust Fund for participation of indigenous and local communities in the activities of the Convention (see Table 5 below);

18.Invites States not Parties to the Convention, as well as governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other sources, to make contributions to the appropriate trust funds of the Convention;

19.Reaffirms the importance of full and active participation of the developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as Parties with economies in transition, in the activities of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and requests the Secretariat to remind Parties of the need to contribute to the Special Voluntary Trust Fund (BZ) at least six months prior to the ordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties, reflecting on the financial need, and urges Parties in the position to do so to ensure that the contributions are paid at least three months before the Conference of the Parties meets;

20.Takes note of the request of the COP-MOP/6, as set out in decision BS-VI/7 paragraph 20, to the COP to "explore the possibility of merging the BI Voluntary Trust Fund, which facilitates participation of Parties in the Biosafety Protocol, with the BZ Voluntary Trust Fund, which facilitates participation of Parties in the Convention process, taking into account advice to be provided by the Executive Secretary and the Executive Director of UNEP";

21.Requests the Executive Secretary to prepare a report on possible implications for the Convention budget resulting from the entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol and the application of its Article 28 (3) and submit that report to ICNP-3, the COP/MOP, and COP-12;

22.Welcomes the information provided by the Executive Secretary on the measurable indicators of achievements and performance for the programme budget, set out in annex II to decision X/45 and requests the Executive Secretary to continue to report on these indicators and to suggest possible improvements to them to the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting aimed at promoting results based management and budgeting notwithstanding the need for a programme budget;

23.Requests the Executive Secretary to prepare and submit a budget for Secretariat services and the programme of work of the Convention for the biennium 2015-2016 for the consideration of the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting, and to provide five practical and rigorous alternatives for the BY Trust Fund budget based on:

24.Requests the Executive Secretary to seek further operational efficiencies in the biennium 2013-2014 and in the organization of the COP and ABS COP/MOP and to report thereon at COP-12 and ABS COP/MOP-1;

25.Further requests the Executive Secretary to undertake an in-depth functional review of the Secretariat, in consultation with the Executive Director of UNEP, with a view to updating its structure and the grading of posts to the Strategic Plan"s focus on implementation by Parties and report to the Parties at at the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

26.Recalls decision III/24, paragraph 10, and instead requests the Executive Secretary to prepare and submit to Parties a report on the administration of the Convention, including such matters as staff lists, status of contributions, progress on the implementation of the work programme and financial expenditures, every six months;

27.Notes with concern and regret that the core programme budget (BY) does not contain adequate finance for all five intersessional priority meetings identified by the Parties for the biennium 2013-14, which has resulted in finance for the ICNP-3 and Article 8(j) meetings being dependent on generous voluntary funding which is not always as predictable as the core budget and,therefore, decides that the allocation of funds from voluntary budget (BE) for intersessional meetings identified as a priority by the Parties should not become standard practice in future budgets;

28.Welcomes the generous offer to fund an intersessional meeting on ICNP-3 by the Government of Japan and the generous offers to fund an Article 8(j) meeting in 2013 made by the Governments of Denmark, Finland, India, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sweden and by the African Group;

29.Invites the Executive Secretary to bear in mind the need for periodic review of classification of staff positions, subject to the UN Staff Rules and Regulations and within the limits of available positions in Table 2 staffing decisions, including upgrading and downgrading, taking into account the functional review in paragraph 25 giving priority in undertaking the review to the post of national reporting and doing so in a timely manner.