Notification 2012-001

Dear Madam/Sir, Reference is made to the earlier notifications (2011-166; 2011-207), sent respectively on 7 September 2011 and 2 November 2011, regarding the nomination of experts to the Wider Caribbean and Western Mid-Atlantic Regional Workshop to Facilitate the Description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs), which will take place from 28 February to 2 March 2012 in Brazil. The Conference of the Parties to the Convention, at its tenth meeting, requested the Executive Secretary to work with Parties and other Governments as well as competent organizations and regional initiatives, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), regional seas conventions and action plans, and, where appropriate, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), with regards to fisheries management, to organize, including the setting of terms of reference, a series of regional workshops, before a future meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) prior to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, with a primary objective to facilitate the description of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas through application of scientific criteria in annex I of decision IX/20 as well as other relevant compatible and complementary nationally and intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria, as well as the scientific guidance on the identification of marine areas beyond national jurisdiction, which meet the scientific criteria in annex I to decision IX/20 (paragraph 36, decision X/29). Pursuant to the above request, this regional workshop is being convened by the CBD Secretariat and hosted by the Government of Brazil, with financial support from the European Union, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP). In order to prepare necessary scientific input to the workshop in a timely manner, I invite Parties and other Governments as well as competent organizations and regional initiatives to provide relevant scientific information in support of the objectives of the above-mentioned workshop, as soon as possible but no later than 17 February 2012, to allow enough time for the Secretariat to compile and collate submitted information. Relevant scientific information can be submitted in two ways: (1) by using the EBSA information template attached as an appendix to this letter, or (2) through another appropriate format, such as scientific articles, documents, datasets, maps or visual and audio information. Information should contribute to the description of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas through application of scientific criteria in annex I of decision IX/20 (http://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=11663) as well as other relevant compatible and complementary nationally and intergovernmentally agreed scientific criteria. Submission of information should be made to the CBD Secretariat by the above deadline (via an email addressed to secretariat@cbd.int or faxed to +1 514 288-6588). Please note that all the submitted information will be available only for the consideration by the above-mentioned workshop. The information considered by the workshop will be kept in the CBD EBSA repository, as called for by COP 10 in decision X/29, paragraph 39, in accordance with the guidance provided in this decision. I thank you in advance for your continued cooperation with the work of the Convention. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points, SBSTTA Focal Points, and other Governments; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); regional seas conventions and action plans and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) in the western Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic region; other competent organizations and regional initiatives