Reporting on forests
under the
Convention on
Biological Diversity
Heikki Toivonen is Senior
Professional Officer for
Forests and
Kalemani Jo Mulongoy is the
Principal Officer,
Secretariat of
the Convention of Biological
Diversity, Montreal, Canada.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requests that each Contracting Party report on measures that it has taken to implement the provisions of the convention and their effectiveness in meeting the convention's objectives - the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) of CBD establishes the format and interval of reports and their scientific and technical contents. The format is prepared in detail by the CBD secretariat. The financial mechanism of the convention, operated by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), provides support for the preparation of national reports by many developing-country parties.
Various expert groups, consultants and international organizations also carry out assessments related to forest biological diversity for use by CBD, its COP and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA).
The Clearing House Mechanism (CHM) of the Convention, a global mechanism for exchanging and integrating information on biodiversity, distributes data related to forest biodiversity. The structures, quantity and management of these data vary greatly among countries. The CHM also provides electronic links to major partners in the fields of forest conservation and forestry through national focal points (currently around 140).
NATIONAL REPORTS AND THEMATIC REPORTS
Information on forest biological diversity has been collected as part of two national reports. Hereafter, reports are to be submitted for alternate meetings of the COP, i.e. at four-year intervals. The third national reports are thus to be submitted to the secretariat in 2005 for consideration at COP-8 in 2006.
The first national reports, submitted by 86 countries in 1996, focused on implementation of general measures for conservation and sustainable use and information available in national country studies on biological diversity. The reports varied widely in length, content and presentation and could not be used for a compilation of comparable information on forest biodiversity.
The second national reports were submitted in 2001 and considered at COP-6, held in The Hague, the Netherlands, in April 2002. Altogether 62 parties reported: 20 industrialized countries, 32 developing countries and 10 countries with economies in transition. The lower number of submissions with respect to the first reporting may be a response to the detailed format or the heavy burden of reporting to many organizations on environmental issues. The second national report included questions on progress in work in thematic areas and cross-cutting issues, as well as on stakeholder participation, reporting and financing. Forest biodiversity was included among the thematic areas; cross-cutting issues included monitoring and assessment and indicators; knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities; alien species; and access to genetic resources.
COP-5 in Nairobi (in 2000) invited parties to prepare detailed thematic reports on items to be considered in depth at COP meetings. For COP-6, reports were invited on forest ecosystems, alien species and benefit sharing, in a pre-set format. The thematic report on forest ecosystems, submitted by 40 countries, considered the implementation of CBD's Programme of Work on Forest Biological Diversity.
Data from the national reports are transferred to a database which is maintained by the CBD secretariat. The National Reports Analyser, an electronic device introduced in 2001, allows any interested person to retrieve data, aggregated by issue, by cluster of countries and by country groups (see www.biodiv.org/reports/nr-02.asp).
Results from the country reporting suggest that implementation of the Programme of Work on Forest Biological Diversity has progressed furthest in developed countries. Many developing countries and countries with economies in transitions have conducted inventories, assessments and research projects, but their implementation of the programme of work is hindered by lack of resources and capacity.
FUTURE NEEDS AND CHALLENGES IN REPORTING
The expanded Programme of Work on Forest Biological Diversity adopted by COP-6 includes large components of socio-economic issues and assessment and monitoring activities. Prioritization and implementation of activities will take place primarily at the national level. Thus reporting is crucial for evaluation of progress in implementation of the programme. COP-6 requested that future national reports include reporting on progress in implementing the expanded programme of work. The CBD Secretariat, in collaboration with members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), is developing a format for this reporting, recognizing the need to minimize the reporting burden on parties, and taking into account reporting under the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) and other international mechanisms. Voluntary thematic national reports will also be called in relation to the expanded programme of work.
