Notification 2011-234

Dear Madam/Sir, Further to my notification SCBD/ITS/SK/mac/78199 of 14 November 2011, I am pleased to inform you that the regional capacity building workshop for Southern African countries on Updating National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans will focus specifically on the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity as an important tool for biodiversity mainstreaming, and has been supplemented with one additional day. The workshop will thus run from 27 February to 1 March 2012. You are kindly requested to take this into consideration in your nomination of representatives. The supplement is in line with the request of the Conference of the Parties at its tenth meeting to support countries in: (i) making use of the findings of the study on the Economics of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (TEEB); (ii) integrating the values of biodiversity into relevant national and local policies, programmes and planning processes; (iii) identifying, eliminating, phasing out, or reforming, with a view to minimize or avoid negative impacts from, existing harmful incentives for sectors that can potentially affect biodiversity; and (iv) promoting the design and implementation, in all key economic sectors, of positive incentive measures for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The workshop will focus on these issues and thus contribute to facilitate the setting of national targets on, and implementation of, Aichi targets 2 and 3 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011 – 2020, as well as other related targets and decisions. The economic focus is organized in cooperation with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and with the generous support of Japan and the European Community. I wish to recall that, in submitting your nominations for the workshop, you are kindly requested to note that the country representatives should be involved in the development, implementation and updating of the NBSAP; and after the workshop, the representatives should be in a position to translate the knowledge and capacities gained into concrete actions for updating and implementation of the NBSAP (please refer to my earlier notification SCBD/ITS/SK/mac/78199 of 14 November 2011). I look forward to receiving your nominations, and I thank you in advance for your support and cooperation. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: the CBD National Focal Points of the following countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, The Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and relevant organizations