At its seventh meeting, held in Kuala Lumpur in February 2004, the Conference of the Parties adopted in its decision VII/28 a programme of work on protected areas. In paragraph 25 of that decision, the Conference of the Parties decided to establish an Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Protected Areas to support and review the implementation of the programme of work and report to the Conference of the Parties.
The
first meeting of the Ad Hoc Open Ended Working Group on Protected Areas was held in Montecatini, Italy from 13 to 17 June 2005.