Decision COP 16/28

The Conference of the Parties,

Recalling decision 15/34 of 19 December 2022,

Recognizing the cumulative increase in the magnitude of the programme of work of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity over many bienniums, and noting that the budget of the Convention has not kept pace with the increase,

Recognizing also, in particular, the recent increase in the number, frequency and size of intersessional meetings and the increased pressure placed on secretariat services, including the provision of conference facilities, registration, travel and other administrative work, editorial work and translation, as well as oversight and management functions,

Recognizing the changed scope of work represented by the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which has led to increased demands from Parties on the Secretariat,

Having considered the information contained in the documents prepared by the Secretariat related to the agenda item on the administration of the Convention and the budget for the trust fund,

Noting with concern that the external in-depth functional review of the structure of the Secretariat, as requested in decision 15/34, planned and budgeted for 2023, has not been undertaken,

Welcoming with appreciation the financial contributions from developed country Parties to the voluntary trust funds of the Convention and its Protocols to facilitate the participation of developing country Parties and indigenous peoples and local communities in the processes of the Convention and its Protocols,

Recognizing the fiscal constraints on Parties, 

Noting with concern that the participation of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition in meetings held under the Convention and its Protocols has been adversely affected by the lack of predictable and sustainable funding,

1. Decides to adopt an integrated programme of work and budget for the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization;

2. Also decides to share all costs for secretariat services among the Convention, the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol on a ratio of 72 to 15 to 13 for the biennium 2025–2026;

3. Approves a core (General Trust Fund for the Convention) programme budget for the Convention of 15,611,078 United States dollars for 2025 and 16,382,433 dollars for 2026, representing 72 per cent of the integrated budget of 21,682,052 dollars for 2025 and 22,753,379 dollars for 2026 for the Convention and its Protocols, for the purposes listed in tables 1 and 2 below;

4. Also approves, in the circumstance that no availability at International Civil Aviation Organization headquarters can be identified to convene the meetings of the subsidiary bodies during the biennium 2025–2026, an additional programme budget not exceeding 139,081 dollars for 2025 and 139,081 dollars for 2026, representing 72 per cent of the additional integrated budget of 193,168 dollars for 2025 and 193,168 dollars for 2026 for the Convention and its Protocols, with the additional programme budget being drawn from the unspent balance of the General Trust Fund for the Convention;

5. Further approves the use of the unspent balance of the General Trust Fund for the Convention, the General Trust Fund for the Core Programme Budget for the Cartagena Protocol and the General Trust Fund for the Core Programme Budget for the Nagoya Protocol (the core trust funds) for the biennium 2023–2024 of 668,836 dollars to offset contributions from the Parties to the Convention, the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol for the biennium 2025–2026;

6. Expresses its appreciation to Canada as the host country of the Secretariat of the Convention for its renewed support for the Secretariat, and welcomes the contribution of 2,234,451 Canadian dollars for 2025 and 2,255,959 Canadian dollars for 2026 from the host country and the Province of Quebec to the rental and associated costs of the Secretariat, which will be allocated on a ratio of 72 to 15 to 13 to offset contributions from the Parties to the Convention, the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, respectively, for the biennium 2025–2026;

7. Requests the Executive Secretary to minimize conference expenses by reserving conference facilities for all meetings of the subsidiary bodies held in Montreal, Canada, during the biennium 2025–2026 and onward, through the preferential arrangement for the use of space with the International Civil Aviation Organization, or in Nairobi, or in any other available United Nations facility available on the basis of their capacity to hold such meetings, and also taking into consideration the budgetary implications and savings of travelling and subsistence allowance for Party participation, and any other services at any available dates that are suitable to the Parties, and authorizes the use of unspent balances for the additional conference rental and associated expenses of the most economical alternative conference space option for an amount not exceeding 386,336 United States dollars in the exceptional circumstance that no availability at the aforementioned venues can be identified;

8. Adopts the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses for 2025 and 2026, in accordance with the scale of assessments of the United Nations, as contained in the annex to the present decision;

9. Also adopts the staffing table of the Secretariat for the biennium 2025–2026, as contained in table 3 below, used for costing purposes to set the overall budget;

10. Recalls that the staffing arrangement of the Secretariat should ensure that the legal obligations under the Convention and its Protocols are met;

11. Urges the Executive Secretary to complete the functional review requested in decision 15/34, taking into consideration the scoping report contained in document CBD/COP/16/4/Add.2-CBD/CP/MOP/11/5/Add.2-CBD/NP/MOP/5/5/Add.2, and submit the results for review at the sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and consideration at the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, noting that the functional review should be focused on assessing whether the Secretariat is properly structured and well resourced to undertake its functions effectively,  in particular for servicing meetings held under the Convention and its Protocols and supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and, if not, what changes are needed to do so;

12. Authorizes the Executive Secretary, on an exceptional basis, to draw upon available unspent balances of the general trust funds from prior financial periods to complete the functional review requested in decision 15/34, for an amount not exceeding 250,000 dollars;

13. Requests the Executive Secretary to finalize the implementation of the outstanding audit recommendations expeditiously and to submit a report thereon at the sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and at the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention;

14. Reiterates its request to the Executive Secretary, as a means to further enhance transparency and accountability, to maintain the section on the website of the Convention that provides links to up-to-date information relevant to the governance of the Convention, including completed and accepted audit reports, audit recommendations and audit responses, applicable financial regulations and rules and any other relevant budgetary and financial information, to facilitate due diligence and financing decisions by Parties and other potential donors;

15. Requests the Executive Secretary to report to the Bureau and provide it with all necessary information, including with regard to the application of the administrative arrangements between the United Nations Environment Programme and the Secretariat, in order to ensure that the Bureau may play a guiding role with regard to preparations for and the conduct of meetings of the Conference of the Parties and of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols;

16. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into commitments up to the level of the approved budget, drawing upon available cash resources, including reserves within authorized or permissible thresholds, being contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income, in accordance with the decisions of the Conference of the Parties and with the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, and requests the Executive Secretary to disclose those commitments in a timely manner;

17. Also authorizes the Executive Secretary to transfer resources among the programmes between each of the main appropriation lines set out in table 2 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 is applied;

18. Urges the Executive Secretary to further reduce the environmental impact of the operations of the Secretariat and to report on the actions taken in that regard to the Conference of the Parties;

19. Reminds all Parties to the Convention and its Protocols that contributions to the core trust funds are due on 1 January of the year for which those contributions have been budgeted, urges all Parties to pay them promptly, and requests that the Executive Secretary notify Parties of the amount of their contributions as early as possible in the year preceding the year in which the contributions are due;

20. Recognizes with concern that some Parties are unable to pay their contributions to the Convention and its Protocols easily, owing to technical challenges, including information technology issues related to the submission of invoices, despite their intention to do so, and requests the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the United Nations Environment Programme, to work with those Parties that have brought up such technical challenges to explore other options to pay their contributions; 

21. Notes with concern that a number of Parties to the Convention and its Protocols have not paid their contributions to the core trust funds for 2023 and prior years, that some Parties have never paid their contributions and that, in accordance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards adopted by the United Nations, credit loss allowances of 2,741,256 dollars for the Convention, 583,172 dollars for the Cartagena Protocol and 337,966 dollars for the Nagoya Protocol were estimated at the end of 2023 and deducted from the fund balance, and can therefore not be used for the benefit of all the respective Parties, and requests the United Nations Environment Programme to accept contributions from all Parties to the Convention and its Protocols in a timely manner; 

22. Urges Parties to the Convention and its Protocols that have still not paid their contributions to the core trust funds for 2023 and previous years to do so without delay or conditionalities, and requests the Executive Secretary to publish and keep up to date the information on the status of contributions to the trust funds of the Convention and its Protocols (the three core trust funds, the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Additional Approved Activities under the Convention and its Protocols, the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process and the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities) and to keep the members of the Bureaux of the Convention and its Protocols regularly apprised of the situation so that they may provide information on unpaid contributions and their consequences to the respective regions, as indicated in paragraph 24;

23. Requests the United Nations Environment Programme, in its capacity as trustee, to use all available diplomatic channels to communicate to the relevant Parties the arrears in their contributions to the core trust funds from 2024 and previous years, with a view to the payment of such arrears in full for the benefit of all Parties to the Convention and its Protocols, and requests the Executive Secretary to report to the Bureau and the Conference of the Parties at its seventeenth meeting on the status of those arrears;

24. Confirms that, with regard to contributions due from 1 January 2005 onward, Parties that have been in arrears with their contributions for two or more years are not eligible to become a member of the Bureaux of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to its Protocols or the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice or to nominate a member of a compliance committee, and decides that this limitation only applies to Parties that are not least developed countries or small island developing States;

25. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into arrangements with any Party that has been in arrears with its contributions for two or more years, whereby the Party agrees to a schedule of payments to clear all outstanding arrears within six years, depending on its financial circumstances, and pay future contributions by the due date, and to report on the implementation of any such arrangement to the Bureau concerned at its following meeting and to the Conference of the Parties at its seventeenth meeting;

26. Decides that a Party that has entered into an agreed arrangement in accordance with paragraph 25 above and that is fully respecting the provisions thereof will not be subject to the provisions of paragraph 24 above;

27. Requests the Executive Secretary, and invites the President of the Conference of the Parties, through a jointly signed letter, to notify Parties with outstanding contributions that they are in arrears and invite them to take timely action to remedy the situation, and to thank those Parties that have responded in a positive manner by paying their outstanding contributions;

28. Notes that the extension of trust funds is an administrative matter that falls under the delegation of the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, that they will, as of the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, no longer require a decision by member States and that, to facilitate the transition between the sixth and seventh sessions of the Environment Assembly, all existing trust funds under the United Nations Environment Programme, including those managed by the Secretariat for the Convention and its Protocols, have been extended to 31 December 2030, unless the Conference of the Parties requests otherwise;

29. Acknowledges the funding estimates for:

30. Recalls rule 30 of the rules of procedure for meetings of the Conference of the Parties, and stresses the need for a wide range of Parties to attend meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols, in particular to reach the level of two thirds of Parties present needed to provide a quorum for the meeting that allows decisions to be taken;

31. Reaffirms the importance of the full and effective participation of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition in the meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols, and in this regard requests the Executive Secretary to take into consideration the relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols on holding meetings concurrently and on improving the efficiencies of the structures and processes of the Convention and its Protocols;

32. Authorizes the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the United Nations Environment Programme and in accordance with the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, to use interests accrued in the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process and the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the event of funding shortfalls and of delays in receiving contributions from donors;

33. Reaffirms the importance of the full and effective participation of at least two delegates from developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition in the meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols, as well as the subsidiary bodies, to be funded from the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process, invites developed country Parties and other Parties in a position to do so, including in the context of South-South cooperation, to make contributions to that Fund in a timely manner and at a level that will allow for full and effective participation, and in exceptional circumstances and in accordance with the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, and authorizes the Executive Secretary, to draw, in consultation with the Bureau, a total amount of up to 500,000 dollars across the biennium from the available reserves in the three core trust funds, to be used in respect of temporary shortfalls in the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process, for which written pledges have been made but resources have not yet been received, to support the participation of delegates from developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, and Parties with economies in transition in the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, providing that reimbursements are made to the three core trust funds as soon as pledges materialize;

34. Recalls paragraph 31 of decision IX/34 of 23 May 2008, and requests the Executive Secretary, when allocating funding from the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process, to continue to accord first priority to least developed countries and small island developing States;

35. Encourages developed country Parties and other Parties in a position to do so to facilitate engagement by the Secretariat with potential alternative donors to the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process, including private and philanthropic bodies, to assist in funding the participation of eligible countries in meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols and the subsidiary bodies;

36. Requests the Executive Secretary to remind Parties in January of each year of the need to contribute to the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process at least six months before the ordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols, to issue requests in December of each year for covering the needs of all relevant meetings in the subsequent year and to issue early invitations to other donors to make contributions;

37. Also requests the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Bureau, to continue to monitor the availability of voluntary contributions to the Special Voluntary Trust Fund for Facilitating the Participation of Parties in the Convention Process, with a view to allowing members of the Bureau to bring any shortfalls in contributions to the attention of Parties and, as appropriate, of potential donors in their regions;

38. Further requests the Executive Secretary, in preparation for the meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols, to compile and distribute to the Parties a list of the work requested of the Executive Secretary, including the administrative and financial implications of each draft decision, as applicable, requiring funding from the core or voluntary budgets, as outlined in draft recommendations and decisions, in order to inform Parties, without prejudice to decisions of the Conference of the Parties and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols, and to provide information on the administrative and financial implications for each draft decision, as relevant, under the respective agenda items;

39. Requests the Executive Secretary to prepare and submit an updated, detailed and integrated programme of work for the period 2027–2028 that sets out objectives, tasks to be completed by the Secretariat and results expected with regard to each budget item, for the Convention and its Protocols, for the consideration of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation ahead of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol, and the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, and a corresponding programme budget following the format of the proposed programme budget for the United Nations Environment Programme, including the supplementary information statement, for the biennium with the three following scenarios, taking the list mentioned in paragraph 38 into account:

40. Also requests the Executive Secretary to introduce all possible measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Secretariat, taking into account decision 16/25 of 1 November 2024 on options to further improve the effectiveness of processes under the Convention and its Protocols and its ensuing intersessional work ahead of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and to reflect those measures in the three scenarios above; 

41. Further requests the Executive Secretary to report to the Subsidiary Body on Implementation ahead of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, on income and budget performance, unspent balances and the status of surplus and carry-overs, as well as any adjustments made to the budget for the biennium 2025–2026;

42. Notes with concern the late delivery of budget documents in advance of the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, and urges the Executive Secretary to take the measures necessary to ensure that budget documents for the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol are circulated in full respect of the 90 day deadline set in paragraph 7 (a) of annex I to decision I/6 of 9 December 1994, and to keep the Bureau informed of progress on budget preparation;

43. Notes the information provided by the Executive Secretary on the administration of the Convention and its Protocols for the biennium 2023–2024, in particular the 2023–2024 integrated budget performance, and requests the Executive Secretary to submit at all future meetings of the Conference of the Parties information on the performance of both the core and the voluntary trust fund budgets, so that Parties have a complete report on expenditure incurred under the Convention.