Notification 2006-102

Dear Madam/Sir, On March 27 2006, in the margins of the High Level Segment of the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed establishing a Consortium of Scientific Partners (CSP). The purpose of the CSP is to leverage the expertise and experience of the member institutions in order to implement education and training activities to support developing countries that are building scientific, technical and policy skills in the area of biodiversity. The Consortium comprises the following scientific institutions: the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, le Muséum National de l’Histoire Naturelle de France, the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; and the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO). The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew played host to the first meeting of the steering committee of the CSP convened by the Executive Secretary of the CBD on 8 and 9 September 2006. The meeting was also attended by a representative of the Montreal Nature Museum, who has initiated a procedure to join the CSP, and by UNEP (represented by UNEP-WCMC). The report of this meeting is now accessible on the website of the CBD at. http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.aspx?mtg=CSPBSC-01

Executive Secretary

To: all CBD National Focal Points, SBSTTA Focal Points and CHM focal points