Notification 2018-085

Dear Madam/Sir, Parties are reminded to submit their sixth national report by the deadline of 31 December 2018, as determined by the Conference of the Parties, in its decision XIII/27. The timely submission of the sixth national reports is crucial to enable analysis as a basis for consultations on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the preparation of the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook. Meanwhile, the online reporting tool for the sixth national report has been further developed in light of requests and comments from users, and the user manual (https://www.cbd.int/chm/doc/chm-latest-guide-online-reporting-en.pdf), available in the six official languages of the United Nations, has been updated to reflect these developments. Please report any difficulties in accessing and using the online reporting tool to the Secretariat by e-mail (onlinereporting@cbd.int) or using the Slaask feature within the online reporting tool. I am pleased to inform Parties of the recent progress reports in implementing the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (http://www.plants2020.net/gppc_2018_national-presentations), shared at the 2018 Conference of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (Cape Town, South Africa, 28-30 August 2018), at which experts from seventeen countries, including nine mega-diverse countries, had reported on such progress in a format compatible with Section V of the sixth national report. In the context of the sixth meeting of the Liaison Group on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/2cc0/0411/e8f77cd8219ecefe34f6313c/gspclg-06-02-en.pdf), members of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (http://www.plants2020.net/gppc/) offered their assistance to support Parties in preparing this report. The Liaison Group welcomed the offer by Botanic Gardens Conservation International to coordinate the preparation of an assessment of the implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011-2020 in parallel and as part of the preparation of the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and noted that this assessment would draw, inter alia, on the content of Section V of the sixth national reports and encouraged all Parties to provide this information. Thank you for your cooperation and your continued support for the work of the Convention. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points, SBSTTA National Focal Points, GSPC National Focal Points