Decision COP 15/5

The Conference of the Parties

1. Adopts the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework contained in annex I of the present decision;

2. Decides to use the period from 2011–2020, where data is available, as the reference period, unless otherwise indicated, for reporting and monitoring progress in the implementation of the KunmingMontreal Global Biodiversity Framework, while noting that baselines, conditions and periods used to express desirable states or levels of ambition in goals and targets should, where relevant, take into account historical trends, current status, future scenarios of biodiversity and available information on the natural state;

3. Also decides to consider a review of the monitoring framework in order to finish its development at its sixteenth meeting, and thereafter keep the monitoring framework under review, as appropriate;

4. Notes the value of aligning national monitoring with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting statistical standard in order to mainstream biodiversity in national statistical systems and to strengthen national monitoring systems and reporting as appropriate and according to their national priorities and circumstances;

5. Encourages Parties and invites other Governments, the Global Environment Facility, the Biodiversity Indicator Partnership, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and other relevant organizations to support national, regional and global biodiversity monitoring systems, recognizing the need for enhanced international cooperation and capacity-building especially for developing countries;

6. Invites Parties and relevant organizations to support community-based monitoring and information systems and citizen science and their contributions to the implementation of the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework;

7. Invites the Statistical Commission, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and other relevant organizations to support the operationalization of the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework;

8. Decides to establish an ad hoc technical expert group, with a time-bound mandate until the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, to advise on the further operationalization of the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in accordance with the terms of reference contained in annex II to the present decision;

9. Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to review the outcomes of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators established pursuant to paragraph 8 above, to complete the scientific and technical review of the monitoring framework and to report its findings for subsequent consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and by the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth meeting;

10. Decides to consider the requirements for further work to fully implement and review the effectiveness of the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at its sixteenth meeting;

11. Requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators, and subject to the availability of resources, to convene moderated online discussions on the monitoring framework;

12. Invites the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions to continue the development and operationalization of indicators related to traditional knowledge and indigenous peoples and local communities, and to report on this work to the Conference of the Parties; 

13. Request the Secretariat to make information available on the progress and outcomes of this work to the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators;

14. Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources and in collaboration with relevant partners:

15. Invites the Global Partnership on Plant Conservation, with the support of the Secretariat and subject to the availability of resources, to prepare a set of complementary actions related to plant conservation to support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and other relevant decisions adopted at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and also based on previous experiences with the implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation as described in the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and the 2020 Plant Conservation Report, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice.