Decision COP 15/34

The Conference of the Parties,

Recalling its decision 14/37, decision CP-9/16 of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and decision 3/16 of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing,

Recalling also its decision EM-2/1, in which it approved the extension of the budget for the biennium 2019–2020 and, on an exceptional basis, a core interim budget for 2021,

Recalling further its decision 15/1, in which it approved the extension of the budget for the biennium 2019–2020 and, on an exceptional basis, a core interim budget for 2022,

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 and Benefit-sharing;

2. Also decides to share all costs for secretariat services among the Convention, the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol on a ratio of 72:15:13 for the biennium 2023–2024;

3. Approves a core (BY) programme budget for the Convention of 14,350,752 United States dollars for the year 2023 and of 15,634,440 United States dollars for the year 2024, representing 72 per cent of the integrated budget of 19,931,600 United States dollars for the year 2023 and 21,714,500 United States dollars for the year 2024 for the Convention and the Protocols, for the purposes listed in the tables 1a and 1b below;

4. Also approves the use of unspent balance of the BY, BG and BB trust funds for the biennium 2021–2022 of 410,000 United States dollars to offset contributions from the Parties to the Convention, the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol for the biennium 2023–2024 for the following areas: 160,000 United States dollars to support the work of the Advisory Committee on Resource Mobilization and the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, established, respectively, in decisions 15/7 and 15/5; and 250,000 United States dollars for the functional review requested in paragraph 35 below;

5. Expresses its appreciation to Canada as the host country for its renewed support to the Secretariat and welcomes the contribution of 2,112,535 Canadian dollars for the year 2023 and 2,153,215 Canadian dollars for the year 2024, from the host country, Canada, and the Province of Quebec, to the rental and associated costs of the Secretariat, which will be allocated on a ratio of 72:15:13 to offset contributions from the Parties to the Convention, the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol, respectively, for the biennium 2023–2024;

6. Notes with concern the ongoing renovations at the conference centre of the International Civil Aviation Organization and that on an exceptional basis, meetings might have to be moved to an alternative venue with cost implications attached to that, within the current adopted framework of the budget, and invites Parties that may be in a position to do so to express interest in hosting such meetings;

7. Adopts the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses for 2023 and 2024, in accordance with the current scale of assessments of the United Nations, as contained in table 6 of the present decision;

8. Also adopts the staffing table of the Secretariat for the biennium 2023–2024 (table 2 below) used for costing purposes to set the overall budget;

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

10. 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 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in order to ensure the guiding role of the Bureau with regard to preparations for and conduct of meetings of the Conference of the Parties;

11. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into commitments up to the level of the approved budget, drawing on available cash resources, including unspent balances, contributions from previous financial periods and miscellaneous income, in accordance with the decisions of the Conference of the Parties and with the Financial Rules and Regulations of the United Nations Environment Programme; and requests the Executive Secretary to make these disclosures in a timely manner;

12. Also authorizes the Executive Secretary to transfer resources among the programmes between each of the main appropriation lines set out in table 1b 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 shall apply;

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

14. Requests the Executive Secretary, as a means to further enhance efforts to foster 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, inter alia, completed and accepted audit reports, applicable financial rules and regulations, and any other relevant budgetary and financial information to facilitate due diligence and financing decisions by Parties and other potential donors;

15. Also requests the Executive Secretary, in accordance with Article 14 of the Financial Rules, to have an audit undertaken on a regular basis by the Office of Internal Oversight Services and to ask for reports on the United Nations Environment Programme from the United Nations Board of Auditors, and to have the reports submitted as part of the documentation for the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties, together with the management response;

16. Further requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, to expeditiously respond to the outstanding audit observations and recommendations, included in annex II to document CBD/COP/15/7, and to those recommendations made by the Office of Internal Oversight Services in 2019 that have not yet been addressed, and to submit a report to the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth meeting on actions undertaken;

17. Invites all Parties to the Convention to note that contributions to the core programme budgets (BY, BG and BB) are due on 1 January of the year for which those contributions have been budgeted and to pay them promptly, and requests that Parties be notified of the amount of their contributions as early as possible in the year preceding the year in which the contributions are due;

18. Notes with concern that a number of Parties to the Convention and its Protocols have not paid their contributions to the core budgets (BY, BG and BB Trust Funds) for 2022 and prior years, including Parties that have never paid their contributions, and also notes that, in accordance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards adopted by the United Nations, arrears estimated at 1,918,753 United States dollars for the Convention, 556,128 United States dollars for the Cartagena Protocol and 275,653 United States dollars for the Nagoya Protocol are outstanding at the end of 2021 and are deducted from the fund balance to cover doubtful debt and so cannot 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 in a timely manner;

19. Urges Parties that have still not paid their contributions to the core budgets (BY, BG, BB Trust Funds) for 2022 and prior 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 (BY, BG, BB, BE, BZ and VB) and to keep the members of the Bureaux of the Convention and its Protocols updated so that they can provide information on unpaid contributions and their consequences to the respective regions as indicated in paragraph 21 below;

20. Requests the United Nations Environment Programme, in its capacity as Trustee, to utilize all available diplomatic channels to communicate to the relevant Parties the arrears in their contributions to the trust funds of the Convention on Biological Diversity (BY, BG and BB) from 2022 and prior 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 sixteenth meeting on the status of these arrears;

21. Confirms that, with regard to contributions due from 1 January 2005 onwards, Parties whose contributions are in arrears for two (2) or more years will not be eligible to become a member of the Bureaux of the Convention, 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 will only apply in the case of Parties that are not least developed countries or small island developing States;

22. Authorizes the Executive Secretary to enter into arrangements with any Party whose contributions are in arrears for two or more years to mutually agree on a “schedule of payments” for such a Party to clear all outstanding arrears within six years depending on the financial circumstances of the Party in arrears and pay future contributions by the due date, and report on the implementation of any such arrangement to the Bureau at its next meeting and to the Conference of the Parties;

23. Decides that a Party with an agreed arrangement in accordance with paragraph 22 above and that is fully respecting the provisions of that arrangement will not be subject to the provisions of paragraph 21 above;

24. Requests the Executive Secretary and invites the President of the Conference of the Parties, through a jointly signed letter, to notify Parties whose contributions are in arrears inviting them to take timely action and to thank those Parties that have responded in a positive manner in paying their outstanding contributions;

25. Notes that the trust funds for the Convention and its Protocols (BY, BG and BB) should be extended for a period of two years beginning 1 January 2024 and ending 31 December 2025, and requests the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme to seek the approval of the United Nations Environment Assembly for their extension;

26. Acknowledges the funding estimates for:

27. Recalls rule 30 of the rules of procedure of the Convention, and stresses the need to have a wide range of Parties attending meetings of the Parties to the Convention and its Protocols, especially in order to reach the level of two thirds of Parties present needed to provide a quorum for the meeting allowing decisions to be taken;

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

29. Strongly encourages developed country Parties and other Parties in a position to do so, including in the context of South-South cooperation, to provide the necessary financial resources to the BZ Trust Fund in order to enable the full and effective participation of representatives of developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, at meetings of the Conference of the Parties, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Protocols, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions, and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation;

30. Recalls paragraph 31 of decision IX/34, and requests the Executive Secretary, when allocating the funding from the BZ Trust Fund, to continue to accord first priority to funding for least developed countries and small island developing States;

31. 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 BZ Trust Fund, including private and philanthropic bodies, to assist in funding the participation of eligible developing countries in meetings of the Parties to the Convention and its Protocols;

32. Requests the Executive Secretary to remind Parties in January of each fiscal year of the need to contribute to the BZ Trust Fund at least six months prior to the ordinary meetings of the Parties to the Convention and its Protocols, to issue requests in December of each year covering the needs of all relevant meetings in the subsequent year, and to issue early invitations to other donors to make contributions;

33. Also requests the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Bureaux, to continue to monitor the availability of voluntary contributions to the BZ Trust Fund, with a view to allowing members of those Bureaux to bring any shortfalls in contributions to the attention of member Parties, and potential donors, as appropriate, in their regions;

34. Further requests the Executive Secretary, in preparation for the meetings of the Conference of the Parties and its Protocols, to provide a list of work addressed to the Executive Secretary in draft recommendations and decisions and its implications where applicable, and as appropriate, in order to inform Parties and without prejudice to decisions of the Conference of the Parties;

35. Requests the Executive Secretary, in preparation for the meetings of the Conference of the Parties and its Protocols, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions, and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation, to undertake an external in-depth functional review of the structure of the Secretariat, in consultation with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, and of the implementation of the programme of work of the Secretariat, taking into account the results-based budgeting framework and the preliminary risk assessment included in document CBD/COP/15/7/Add.1, the recommendations of the audit report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services and the risks identified, with a view to updating its structure and the grading of posts in the light of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and a focus on implementation by Parties, to be submitted for consideration and action by the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth meeting;

36. Also requests the Executive Secretary to prepare and submit an updated, detailed and integrated programme of work for the period 2025–2026, which sets out the objectives, tasks to be completed by the Secretariat, and results expected in regard to each budget item, for the Convention and its Protocols, for the consideration of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Parties to its Protocols at their next meetings, 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 two alternatives, taking into account the list requested in paragraph 34 above:

37. Further requests the Executive Secretary to introduce all possible measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Secretariat, and to reflect these measures in the two scenarios above;

38. Requests the Executive Secretary to report to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to its Protocols at their next meetings 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 2023–2024;

39. Notes with concern the late delivery of budgetary documents in advance of the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and urges the Executive Secretary to take the measures necessary to ensure that documents for the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties are circulated in full respect of the rules in force and to keep the Bureau informed on the progress of budget preparation.