Decision COP IX/30

(a) If not yet done, designate, as soon as possible, a national focal point for the clearing-house mechanism, as requested by paragraph 7 of decision II/3, with the appropriate expertise to coordinate and implement the national clearing-house mechanism;

(b) Prepare a national implementation strategy for the clearing-house mechanism, where appropriate, preferably as a component of the national biodiversity strategy and action plan, based on identified needs;

(c) Develop their national clearing-house mechanisms as a key means for the implementation and review of  their national biodiversity strategies and action plans;

(d) Whenever possible, develop links between the national clearing-house mechanism and existing networks, and develop information exchange mechanisms with relevant national databases, making use, whenever applicable and appropriate, of well-established open standards;

(e) Establish a national structure, as appropriate, to coordinate the development of the clearing-house mechanism, such as an inter-institutional steering committee with participation of relevant biodiversity-related organizations and stakeholders;

(f) Mobilize and allocate resources for strengthening the institutional capacity to implement the national clearing-house mechanism and for sustaining its operations;

(g) Define roles and responsibilities for collecting, reviewing and disseminating information, managing website content, and for outreach activities;

(h) Identify relevant biodiversity-related information sources at the national level and promote them through the national clearing-house mechanism, and if not yet done, first provide basic information on national contacts and on biodiversity in the country;

(i) Encourage the use of the national clearing-house mechanism as a tool to dialog with the civil society, major groups and stakeholders;

(j) Whenever applicable and feasible, make the national clearing-house mechanism website available also in national or local languages, and disseminate relevant materials at the national level, including to indigenous and local communities in appropriate formats and languages;

(a) Designate an appropriate technical contact or focal point for the clearing-house mechanism;

(b) Investigate, in collaboration with the Secretariat, ways to make their information accessible through the clearing-house mechanism;

(c) Contribute to the establishment of regional, subregional or thematic clearing-house mechanisms, with a view to provide support to national clearing-house mechanisms, to share knowledge and to facilitate scientific and technical cooperation, including cooperation on science and innovation as well as the transfer of technology;

(a) Gradually build a knowledge base, to facilitate access to relevant references, such as guidelines, strategies, reports and other information;

(b) Provide collaboration tools to enable Parties to maintain contact, share ideas and brainstorm on how to implement the Convention; keeping in mind that such collaboration is most effective when appropriate incentives such as well-defined discussion topics and clear objectives are available to encourage participation;

(c) In consultation with the informal advisory committee (CHM-IAC), provide a detailed analysis about the scope and complexity of a potential on-line submission system for sharing knowledge and experiences, and, if feasible and appropriate, develop a prototype for review and comments by interested Parties;

(d) Establish, whenever applicable and feasible, common formats and vocabularies for the clearing-house mechanism information systems with a view to enhance clarity, user-friendliness, efficiency, interoperability, and data comparability;

(e) Strengthen the Secretariat's capacity in areas related to the clearing-house mechanism, such as information technology, website, knowledge management and other modern information services, focusing on the priority areas identified in this paragraph;

(f) Improve the Convention's website, its accessibility, and make this website available in all United Nations languages;

(g) Provide guidance and support to Parties to assist in the establishment of their national clearing-house mechanism, including through organizations which are present and active at the national or regional levels, and based on the special capacity-building needs of developing countries;

(h) Further collaborate with key partner organizations, inter alia:

(i) Take into account the strategy for the preparation of the International Year of Biodiversity adopted under decision IX/33 when further developing the services offered by the clearing-house mechanism leading up to the year 2010;

(j) Consider the role of the clearing-house mechanism in analyses prepared for revisions to the Strategic Plan of the Convention beyond 2010;

(k) Facilitate cooperation between the informal advisory committee on the clearing-house mechanism (CHM-IAC) and the informal advisory committee on communication, education and public awareness (CEPA-IAC) in order to further develop the clearing-house mechanism as a tool for communication, education and public awareness activities.