The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) announced on 18 August 2021 that the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15) as well as the associated meetings, that is the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 10) and the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol (NP-MOP 4), will now take place in two parts (CBD Announcement). The COP-15 was originally scheduled to take place in Kunming, China, in October 2020 but was rescheduled several times due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The first Meeting, in virtual format with limited onsite presence from embassies and organizations already based in China, will take place from 11-15 October 2021. The meeting will address the agenda items that are considered essential for the continuation of the operations of the Convention and the Protocols. China, in consultation with the Secretariat, will convene the virtual High-Level Segment from 12-13 October 2021, with the objective of providing political momentum for the preparations of the post-2020 global biodiversity Framework.

The second Meeting will convene, in principle, in a face-to-face meeting in Kunming from 25 April to 8 May 2022 and will address the remaining agenda items including the finalization and adoption of the post-2020 global biodiversity Framework.

Several meetings announced in the CBD’s revised schedule will provide for, among others, in-person preparatory negotiations on the post-2020 global biodiversity Framework. These are tentatively expected to convene in person in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2022.

As part of the process to develop the post-2020 Framework, an open-ended intersessional Working Group, co-chaired by Francis Ogwal (Uganda) and Basile van Havre (Canada), provides the framework for negotiations (Co-Chairs Updates - August 2021). The first meeting of the Working Group took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 27-30 August 2019. Its second meeting took place in Rome, Italy, from 24-28 February 2020. The third meeting of the Working Group was expected to convene from 27-31 July 2020 in Colombia but was postponed due to the pandemic. It will now take place as an online session from 23 August-3 September 2021 to advance preparations for the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework due to be adopted now in Kunming in April/May 2022.

IGTC Corporate Stakeholders and Members who wish to join IGTC’s delegation for the first Meeting in October 2021, are kindly requested to contact IGTC’s Secretariat

before 24 September

for formal registration at the Meeting before the 1 October 2021 deadline.