Notification 2016-029

Dear Madam/Sir, The use of social media has significantly changed the way the world communicates online through the use of different tools which allow us to connect regardless of one’s location, raise awareness on important issues, and engage in an interactive dialogue. In light of the above, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is pleased to inform you of its accounts on the most popular social media platforms: - Facebook: The United Nations Decade on Biodiversity - Twitter: @CBDNews - Instagram: @UNBiodiversity These tools present innovative ways to promote the work of the Convention, to engage with different stakeholders and partners, and are in line with Aichi Biodiversity Target 1 “By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably”. They thus help in raising awareness with a view to meeting this target. Within this context, I invite Parties and other governments to join our social media platforms and encourage them to share their own platforms with the Secretariat, in order to facilitate coordination. In an effort to involve our online community and raise awareness on the importance of biodiversity in sustaining the livelihoods of communities, which reflects this year’s theme of the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB), we are launching a logo design contest for the creation of the IDB 2016 official logo. I therefore invite you to share the contest announcement within your networks, with a view to help us reach as many creative designers as possible. You can find the contest announcement at https://www.cbd.int/idb/2016/. Together we can increase the public’s awareness on the importance of biodiversity and the tools with which to preserve it. Please find in the annex attached a summary of the different social media tools that we use for your information and action. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias Executive Secretary Enclosure Annex Purpose of Social Media - Visibility, awareness and outreach - Educating the public on the biodiversity-related work of the CBD and other UN bodies, as well as promoting engaging Partner and other organizations’ content pertaining to biodiversity - Towards achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 1: “By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably.” ________________________________________ Social Media Overview What is it? - Social media are online applications that facilitate interactions between web surfers - Turns communication into interactive dialogues - Increases web visibility and presence by sharing online content, expanding word-of-mouth, which represents a significant shift in the way we presently communicate - Provides the opportunity to reach people all around the world Why is it important? Social Media as a supplementary addition - Without social media, the website’s inbound traffic is limited to people already familiar with the Convention and individuals searching for keywords directly related to biodiversity. Every social media profile is another path leading back to the site, and every piece of content syndicated on those profiles is another opportunity for a new visitor. The more quality content syndicated on social media, the more inbound traffic generated. - Social media also provides an opportunity to gain valuable information about what followers are interested in and how they behave, via social listening. For example, user comments can be monitored to see what people think of posts directly. Social media also gives us the opportunity to segment content syndication lists based on topic and see which types of content generate the most interest—and accordingly produce more of that type of content. - Works towards achieving the objectives of Article 13 of the Convention: communicate, educate and raise public awareness. - Helps promote the work of different partners CBD Social Media Platforms Facebook The United Nations Decade on Biodiversity Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/UNBiodiversity/) was created to support the Decade, which coincides with the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its tenth meeting held in Nagoya, Japan. - The page is currently used to promote activities related to the Decade, as well as the different species and ecosystems that constitute the Earth’s biodiversity. - Audience: The general public, people interested in Biodiversity - This page is less “official”, it is a fun place for the general public and for people who are passionate about biodiversity to learn more about it and keep up with the latest biodiversity-related news and developments. - Examples of posts that would go on the UNDB page are: • Interesting biodiversity photos, facts, and videos; • partner updates and videos; • important biodiversity headlines, news stories, events, and announcements Twitter Handle: @CBDNews (https://twitter.com/cbdnews) The page is primarily used to highlight biodiversity-related news and issues and promote specific biodiversity-related events (CBD and partners) Instagram Instagram is a tool to promote biodiversity awareness through visual content Handle: @UNBiodiversity (https://instagram.com/unbiodiversity) On Instagram, we typically post: - Biodiversity photos of different species, ecosystems, etc. with a caption about related interesting facts - Promote specific biodiversity publications, events, and days

Executive Secretary

To: CBD and CHM National Focal Points