Notification 2017-127

Dear Madam/Sir, In paragraph 2(a) of decision X/15 on the clearing-house mechanism (CHM), the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) encouraged Parties to continue to take the necessary steps to establish, strengthen, and ensure the sustainability of national clearing-house mechanisms. More recently, in paragraph 13 of decision XIII/23, the Conference of the Parties encouraged Parties to continue their efforts to establish, sustain and further develop effective national clearing-house mechanisms in support of the implementation of their national biodiversity strategies and action plans. Pursuant to these decisions and thanks to the generous financial support of the Government of Japan, the Secretariat, in collaboration with the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, is organizing a regional workshop for Asian countries on the clearing-house mechanism to be held from 29 January to 3 February 2018 at the United Nations Conference Centre of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. The objective of the workshop is to build capacity and provide guidance on how to establish and sustain effective national clearing-house mechanisms, in line with decision X/15 and in support of the national biodiversity strategies and action plans. The workshop is intended for Parties in this region that are interested in establishing or further developing their national CHM. Part of the workshop will be dedicated to the Secretariat’s recent Bioland tool which can facilitate the establishment and maintenance of a national CHM. The provisional agenda and other relevant documents will be available online in due course at: https://www.cbd.int/meetings/chmws-2018-01. The working language of the workshop will be English. In this regard, I am pleased to invite your Government to nominate one representative to participate in this workshop. The nominee should meet the following criteria: (a) involvement in the planning and development of the national CHM in your country, as expected from the CHM National Focal Point; (b) familiarity with the national biodiversity strategy and action plan; (c) ability to present the current situation of the national CHM as well as any existing plans to further develop it; and (d) occupy a position enabling him/her to apply the knowledge and skills gained during the workshop for further developing the national CHM. (e) The nomination should be in the form of an official letter addressed to the CBD Executive Secretary and signed by the CBD National Focal Point or a senior government official, together with the attached nomination and endorsement forms. This letter can either be scanned and e mailed to secretariat@cbd.int or faxed to +1 514 288 6588, no later than 15 December 2017. The letter should contain the nominee's name and full contact details with an active e mail address. If the nominee is not a National Focal Point, a curriculum vitae indicating the nominee's areas of expertise should be included. As funding is limited, financial support to attend the workshop will be granted to Parties on a first-come, first-served basis taking into account the above-mentioned criteria. Upon receipt of the nomination letter, necessary arrangements will be made and detailed information concerning the workshop will be communicated. I look forward to receiving your early nomination. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD and CHM NFPs of: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen