International news

Montreal, 25 May 2016 - With Congo's accession on 16 May 2016, the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety needs only six more ratifications to enter into force.

This is a historic day in the life of our Convention on Biological Diversity for two reasons. First, we open the first meeting of this body, the Subsidiary Body on Implementation. Second, the Secretariat celebrates 20 years in this beautiful and diverse city of Montreal.

The first meeting of the new Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-1) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will open today, focusing on increasing efforts related to strengthening the review process and enhance on-the-ground implementation at global, national, sub-national and local levels.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the twentieth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and to welcome you all back to Montreal.

It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this Technical Workshop on Monitoring of Marine and Coastal Biodiversity, being held on the margins of the twentieth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice.

Germany is the latest country to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, bringing the total number of ratifications to 74. This includes 73 countries and the European Union (EU), which ratified the Protocol in May 2014.

This year, International Mother Earth Day coincides with the signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at UN Headquarters in New York, where world governments will demonstrate their commitment to meet the challenges of climate change.

One of the main bodies under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) is set to meet next week to discuss issues that will accelerate progress in implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and achieving its Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

With its focus on mainstreaming biodiversity and issues being discussed at SBSTTA-20 and SBI-1, the May 2016 edition of [square brackets], the CBD newsletter for Civil Society, is now available online.

Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico, as the incoming president of the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in a joint letter with Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, CBD Executive Secretary, urged his global counterparts to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity as soon as possible.