Notification 2012-012

Dear Madam/Sir, I have the honour to inform you that the sixteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-16) will be held from 30 April to 5 May 2012 at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in Montréal, Canada. Please note that, following the decision made by the SBSTTA Bureau, the meeting is scheduled to close on Saturday, 5 May 2012 at 1 p.m. to accommodate the heavy agenda. It will be followed by the fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention (WGRI-4), from 7 to 11 May 2012. I am pleased to attach herewith the provisional agenda approved by the SBSTTA Bureau, which is also available on the meeting page http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=SBSTTA-16, along with the annotated agenda. The pre-session and other relevant documentation for the meeting, as well as the Information Note for Participants, will be made available as soon as possible. Advance copies of documents and documents for peer review are being made available at http://www.cbd.int/sbstta16/peerreview. Parties are encouraged to review these documents and to send comments to secretariat@cbd.int. The deadline for submission of comments is specified on the review page. In accordance with rule 18 of the Rules of Procedure for meetings of the Conference of the Parties, the designation of representatives to attend the SBSTTA-16 meeting should be submitted through an official letter to be addressed to the CBD Executive Secretary, and sent to the Secretariat by fax at +1 514-288-6588 or as a scanned email attachment to secretariat@cbd.int as soon as possible, but no later than 30 March 2012. Please note that an on-line system of pre-registration will be available as of 1 February 2012 by means of an exclusive and unique internet link that will be provided, in a separate e-mail, to the SBSTTA Focal Points and the CBD National Focal Points. Please note that subject to the availability of contributions to the Special Voluntary Trust Fund (BZ), the Secretariat will be in a position to finance the participation of only one representative from each of the developing countries Parties to the Convention, including the least developed countries, small island developing States, other developing countries, and countries with economies in transition, for both meetings, i.e. SBSTTA-16 and WGRI-4. Eligible Parties to the Convention wishing to solicit such assistance are kindly requested to advise the Secretariat at their earliest convenience, but no later than 9 March 2012, of the name and coordinates of the Government’s officially designated representative to benefit from such financial support. It will not be possible for the Secretariat to respond positively to request for funding received after the deadline. In view of the increased security procedures for travellers and budget constraints, and in order to allow the maximum number of countries to participate in the meeting, the Secretariat will be using special airfare tickets for sponsored delegates that impose restrictions with regard to changing the passenger’s name, travel date and itinerary. In this respect, it will not be possible for the Secretariat to accommodate name changes if they are received after 9 March 2012. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points, SBSTTA Focal Points