COP Guidance

The COP has urged Parties to place special emphasis on Article 13 in the development of their national strategies and action plans. It has also urged Parties to:

• promote education on biodiversity through relevant institutions including NGOs
• allocate resources for the use of education and communication instruments
• allocate appropriate resources for the strategic use of education and communication instruments at each phase of policy formulation, planning, implementation and evaluation
• integrate biodiversity concerns into education strategies
• support relevant initiatives by major groups which foster stakeholder participation in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use
  (decision IV/10, B, paragraph 1).

The COP has encouraged Parties to make use of the media to promote public education and awareness about the importance of and appropriate methods for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Where necessary, provisions of the Convention should be illustrated and translated into local languages (decision IV/10, B, paragraphs 3 and 4).

The COP has recognized the importance of public awareness and education in relation to each of the thematic work programmes and has urged Parties to strengthen education and awareness programmes in relation to agricultural biological diversity, inland water biological diversity and marine and coastal biological diversity. Although the COP has noted that the implementation of forest conservation and sustainable use policies depends, inter alia, on the level of public awareness and policies outside the forest sector (decision III/12, preamble), and that attention needs to be paid to the further raising of public awareness and the understanding of the importance of biological diversity through educational programmes and information (decision III/19, annex, paragraph 24), public awareness and education does not appear to be explicitly addressed in the work programme on forest biological diversity adopted in decision IV/7 of the COP.

In relation to Article 8(j) and related provisions, the COP has urged Parties, inter alia, to use means of communication other than Internet, including newspapers, bulletins and radio, and increasing the use of local languages (decision V/16, paragraph 12(e)).

The COP also requested Parties and Governments to undertake education and awareness raising, and develop communication strategies that allows indigenous and local communities, and the public at large, to be made aware of the recommendations related to Article 8(j) (decision VI/10, paragraph 16).

Parties have been urged by the COP to propose projects to the financial mechanism which promote measures for implementing Article 13 (decision IV/10, B, paragraph 9).

COP 6 requested the Executive Secretary, in consultation with UNESCO, UNEP, the IUCN, Commission for Education and Communication (CEC), and other members of the consultative working group of experts established by decision V/17, as well as any relevant institutions, to:

1. monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Global Initiative, according to the conditions established in the annex to the present decision for its start-up phase, and report regularly on its implementation to the meetings of the COP
2. review the communication, education and public-awareness dimensions of existing and new cross-cutting issues and thematic areas, and specifically those priorities and action plans established in the Strategic Plan for the Convention
3. promote, in collaboration with the relevant agencies, the development and implementation of demonstration projects that can serve as models to initiate similar projects that can be adopted by Parties, and to report to COP 7
4. seek the submission of relevant case-studies on biodiversity communication, education and public awareness from relevant sources
5. develop and implement a corporate communication strategy for the Secretariat decision VII 24, paragraph 4)

COP 7 requested the Executive Secretary to convene an informal advisory committee on communication, education and public awareness, that would meet at SBSTTA 10 to develop a CEPA work programme and report to COP 8. This informal advisory committee would meet at subsequent SBSTTA and COP meetings (decision VII 24 paragraph 4).

The COP further requested the Executive Secretary to produce, subject to financial support, the second edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and the third edition of the Handbook on the Convention decision VII 24, paragraphs 7 and 8).

COP 8 adopted a short-list of priority activities (decision VIII 6, annex II) for the Global Initiative on CEPA to guide implementation during the current biennium, and agreed to continue activities according to the implementation plan for the medium term. The COP invited parties to participate in and contribute to the implementation of the short-list of priority activities.

The COP also decided to establish the informal advisory committee as a broader expert group on communication, education and public awareness, including representatives from indigenous and local communities and decided to provide for regular meetings of this group. donors were called up to provide the necessary funds.

Collaboration with other partners, including the biodiversity liaison group was also encouraged.

COP 8 invited the General Assembly at its sixty-first ordinary session to consider adopting the draft resolution on the proclamation of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity contained in annex I to (decision VIII 6).

Parties have been urged by the COP to propose projects to the financial mechanism which promote measures for implementing Article 13. (decision IV/10, B, paragraph 9).