Notification 2026-073

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am pleased to inform you that the Secretariat, in collaboration with the Government of Armenia, the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, the CBD Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centres (TSCCs) servicing countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, other UN agencies and partners, will convene the 2026 Biodiversity Capacity-Building and Development Forum on 24 October 2026, at the same venue as the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 17/CP-MOP12/NP-MOP6) in Yerevan, Armenia. 

The Forum is the second to be organized by the Secretariat pursuant to paragraph 16(g) of decision 15/8. Held under the theme “From Ambition to Action: Scaling Capacity Development for Accelerated National Implementation”, the 2026 Forum will bring together representatives of Parties, indigenous peoples and local communities, women, youth, and other relevant stakeholders involved in capacity-building and development to, inter alia, share experiences, lessons learned and possible practical solutions for addressing key technological and institutional capacity gaps identified in the global report on collective progress in the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. 

The Forum is expected to contribute to a shared understanding of the major capacity needs and challenges hindering collective progress in the implementation of the Framework and to identify potential practical solutions to address them. It will also foster stronger coordination, cooperation and partnerships among participants to improve the effectiveness of capacity-building and development, access to and transfer of technology, access to innovation and technical and scientific cooperation efforts. 

I am pleased to invite Parties and observers to nominate one representative from among their accredited delegation to the UN Biodiversity Conference to participate in the 2026 Biodiversity Capacity-Building and Development Forum. Please complete the nomination form as soon as possible and preferably no later than 16 October 2026.  Kindly note that the Forum will be conducted in English only. A provisional programme is available at: http://www.cbd.int/conferences/2026/parallel-meetings/capacity-forum.

 Please accept, Sir, Madam, the assurances of my highest consideration.

(Signed) Astrid Schomaker

Executive Secretary