. Proposals for the integration of climate-change activities within the programmes of work of the Convention, options for mutually supportive actions addressing climate change within the Rio conventions and a summary of the findings of the global Assessment on Peatlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change

XII/5. Proposals for the integration of climate-change activities within the programmes of work of the Convention, options for mutually supportive actions addressing climate change within the Rio conventions and a summary of the findings of the global Assessment on Peatlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change

1. The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice recommends that the Conference of the Parties at its ninth meeting:

(a) Decides that, in conducting future in depth reviews of the programmes of work of the Convention, advice on potential climate-change impacts and [the impact of climate-change] response activities on biodiversity should be integrated into each programme of work where relevant, taking into account, inter alia, the reports and recommendations of the Third and Fourth Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Technical Series No. 10 and No. 25 of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the global Assessment on Peatlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change, and considering the following:

(i) Indications or predictions of climate-change impacts and [the impacts of climate change] response activities on relevant ecosystems;

(ii) The most vulnerable components of biodiversity;

(iii) The risks and consequences for ecosystem services and human well-being;

(iv) The threats and likely impacts of climate change and [the impacts of climate change] response activities on biodiversity and opportunities they provide for the conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use;

(v) Monitoring of the threats and likely climate-change impacts and [the impacts of climate-change] response activities on biodiversity;

(vi) Appropriate monitoring and evaluation techniques, related technology transfer and capacity building initiatives within the programmes of work;

(vii) Critical knowledge needed to support implementation, including inter alia, scientific research, availability of data, appropriate measurement and monitoring techniques technology and traditional knowledge; and

(viii) The ecosystem-approach principles and guidance and the precautionary approach;

(b) Encourages Parties to enhance the integration of climate-change considerations related to biodiversity in their implementation of the Convention, including:

(i) Identifying, within their own countries, vulnerable regions, subregions and ecosystem types, including vulnerable components of biodiversity within these areas;

(ii) Integrating concerns relating to climate-change impacts and [the impacts of climate change] response activities on biodiversity within national biodiversity strategy and action plans;

(iii) Assessing the threats and likely impacts of climate change and [the impacts of climate-change] response activities on biodiversity;

(iv) Identifying and adopting, within their own countries, monitoring programmes for regions, sub-regions and ecosystems affected by climate change and promote international cooperation in this area;

(v) Enhancing scientific tools, methodologies, knowledge and approaches to respond to climate change impacts and [the impacts of climate change] response activities on biodiversity, including socio-economic and cultural impacts;

(vi) Enhancing the methodology and the knowledge needed to integrate biodiversity considerations in climate change response activities, such as baseline information, scenarios, potential impacts on and risks to biodiversity, and resilience and resistance of ecosystems and species populations and communities/assemblages;

(vii) Increasing stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process relating to climate change impacts and [the impacts of climate change] response activities on biodiversity;

(viii) Applying the principles and guidance of the ecosystem approach such as adaptive management, the use of traditional knowledge, the use of science and monitoring;

(ix) Taking appropriate actions to address and monitor climate change impacts and the impacts of climate-change response activities on biodiversity;

(x) Enhancing cooperation with relevant organizations and among national focal points;

(c) Urges Parties, other Governments, donors and relevant organizations to support further action, such as the ones listed in the global Assessment of Peatlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change, that could contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of peatlands and assessment of their positive contributions to climate change response activities;

(d) Encourages Parties, other Governments, donors and relevant organizations to support capacity building activities to enable developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States and countries with economies in transition, to implement activities related to climate change impacts and [the impacts of climate change] response activities on biodiversity;

(e) Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of financial resources, to convene a workshop for small island developing States to support the integration of climate-change impacts and [the impacts of climate-change] response activities within programmes of work and national biodiversity strategy and action plans, with a view to holding similar capacity building workshops in other groups of countries; and

(f) Recognizes the importance of wetlands, and in particular peatlands in the global carbon cycle, and the potential of their conservation and sustainable use as a cost-effective tool to address climate change and welcomes the findings of the global Assessment on Peatlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change;

[(g) Reiterates that reduced deforestation provides opportunities for multiple benefits for biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and requests the Executive Secretary to continue to contribute to discussions on deforestation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.]

2. The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice:

(a) Requests the Executive Secretary, when preparing the in-depth review of the programmes of work on forest and agricultural biodiversity, to take into account an analysis to identify the elements of the guidance (subparagraphs 1 (a) (i)-(viii) above) already included in the existing programme of work and an assessment of the state of implementation, as well as the identification of gaps in implementation including a review of barriers and suggestions to overcome them;

(b) Welcomes the findings of the global Assessment on Peatlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change undertaken by Wetlands International and the Global Environment Centre and requests the Executive Secretary:

(i) To convey the message of the Assessment to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at its thirteenth meeting; and

(ii) In collaboration with the secretariats of relevant multilateral environment agreements and other relevant partners, review opportunities for further action to support the conservation and sustainable use of the biodiversity of tropical forested peatlands as well as other wetlands, and to report on progress to the ninth meeting of Conference of the Parties;

(c) Requests the Executive Secretary to develop proposals for mutually supportive activities as requested in decision VIII/30 paragraph 9, for consideration at the thirteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, taking into account the views discussed by the Subsidiary Body at its twelfth meeting, bearing in mind that these views were not endorsed by Parties during that session because the report of the Joint Liaison Group meeting was not available and, therefore, was not discussed; and

(d) Invites Parties to submit their views on the draft options for mutually supportive activities for secretariats, Parties and other relevant organizations (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/12/INF/17) so as to include these views in the proposals to be presented to the thirteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, referred to in paragraph 2 (c) above.