Decision COP V/20
UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/V/20
Operations of the Convention
1.Decides to amend rule 4 of its rules of procedure by replacing paragraph 1 with the following paragraph:
"1.Ordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties shall be held every two years. The Conference of the Parties shall from time to time review the periodicity of its ordinary meetings in the light of the progress achieved in the implementation of the Convention."
(a)By replacing the first two sentences of paragraph 1 of rule 21 with the following sentences:
"At the commencement of the first session of each ordinary meeting a President and ten Vice-Presidents, one of whom shall act as Rapporteur, are to be elected from among the representatives of the Parties. They shall serve as the bureau of the Conference of the Parties. The term of office of the President shall commence straight away and the terms of office of the Vice-Presidents shall commence upon the closure of the meeting at which they are elected."; and
(b)By replacing the first two sentences of paragraph 2 of rule 21 with the following sentences:
"The President shall remain in office until a new President is elected at the commencement of the next ordinary meeting and the Vice-Presidents shall remain in office until the closure of the next ordinary meeting. They shall serve as the bureau of any extraordinary meeting held during their term of office and provide guidance to the Secretariat with regard to preparations for, and conduct of, meetings of the Conference of the Parties."; and
11.Decides that the Strategic Plan shall be based on the longer-term programmes of work of the Conference of the Parties and of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, and that the Strategic Plan shall provide strategic and operational guidance for the implementation of these programmes of work;
18.Decides that the Chair of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice or other members of the Bureau authorized by him or her may represent the Subsidiary Body at meetings of the scientific bodies of other conventions and relevant biological-diversity-related conventions, institutions and processes;
21.Decides that the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice may establish ad hoc technical expert groups and adopt terms of reference for them, and shall seek ways to ensure transparency in the choice of experts and the rationalization of meetings, and decides to give effect to this by amending paragraph 12 (c) of the modus operandi of the Subsidiary Body (decision IV/16, annex I) to read:
"(c) Within the available budgetary resources, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice will determine the exact duration and specific terms of reference when establishing such expert groups under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties;"
22.Confirms that the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, within the available budgetary resources for matters related to its mandate, may make requests to the Executive Secretary and utilize the clearing-house mechanism, and other appropriate means, to assist in the preparation of its meetings;
24.Decides that the guidance to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice contained in specific decisions of a meeting of the Conference of the Parties should take into account the need for a coherent and realistic programme of work for the Subsidiary Body, including the identification of priority issues, allowing flexibility in timing, and agrees that the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice may, if necessary, adjust the timing of its consideration of issues;
25.Recognizes that there is a need to improve the quality of the scientific, technical and technological advice provided to the Conference of the Parties, and to undertake sound scientific and technical assessments, including in-depth assessments of the state of knowledge on issues critical for the implementation of the Convention;
(b)To undertake a limited number of pilot scientific assessment projects, in preparation for the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and to invite, among others, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to work closely together with the Subsidiary Body in this area; and to facilitate and support the implementation of these projects; and, at an appropriate stage, to carry out an evaluation of them;
(e)To review the implementation of decision II/1 relating to the Global Biodiversity Outlook and provide the results of that review to the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting, together with advice on means to enhance implementation and/or any desirable amendments to the decision;
30.Notes the proposed uniform methodology for the use of the roster of experts, set out in annex I to recommendation V/14 of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, and refers this to the Subsidiary Body and the Executive Secretary for consideration and, where appropriate, use in their work;
32.Decides that every effort should be made to promote the development of the clearing-house mechanism with respect to its role in facilitating the transfer of technology and know-how through exchanging and disseminating information, and in enhancing capacity building, especially at the national level, taking into account the review of the mechanism;
33.Recognizes that activities at the subregional and regional levels, including existing regional processes established for other biological-diversity-related purposes, have an important role to play in preparing for Convention meetings and enhancing implementation of the Convention, and calls on Parties to participate actively in suitable subregional and regional activities, as well as on the Executive Secretary, subject to necessary voluntary contributions, to facilitate the involvement in such subregional and regional activities of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed and small island developing States, and other Parties with economies in transition;
34.Requests the Executive Secretary to continue enhancing communication with the Parties through the notification system for the Convention with respect to inter-sessional activities, documents received, selection of experts for technical panels, peer-review processes initiated by the Executive Secretary, and liaison groups and other expert bodies, and to make such information available through the clearing-house mechanism save to the extent that an expert objects to the release of information concerning him or her;
35. Decides to improve the functioning of the existing operational procedures for the conduct of meetings under the Convention, particularly to allow small delegations to participate more effectively, including in relation to the scheduling of agenda items and dealing with timetable changes;
36.Calls on the Executive Secretary to use national reports, as appropriate, to gather focused information as part of the preparatory process for issues in the work programme, and decides to reflect this approach in its decisions on national reports arising from work agreed to in decision IV/14, on national reports by Parties;
38.Decides to hold an open-ended inter-sessional meeting, to assist with preparations for the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The meeting will be of three days duration and is to be held in conjunction with an existing meeting. The meeting will consider, and to the extent possible develop draft elements of decisions on, the following topics:
41.Requests the Executive Secretary to provide an overview of existing mechanisms and processes for review of national implementation of environmental instruments, and invites Parties to undertake, on a voluntary basis, a review of national programmes and needs related to the implementation of the Convention and, if appropriate, to inform the Executive Secretary accordingly.
- Body
- Conference of the Parties (COP)
- Meeting
- COP-0515 - 26 May, 2000Nairobi, Kenya
- Decision document
- V/20Operations of the Convention
- Documents
- UNEP/CBD/COP/8/INF/2UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/10/7UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/6/9
- Related decisions