22 October 2012: Held from 8-19 October 2012, in Hyderabad, India, the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted 33 decisions on a range of strategic, substantive, administrative, financial and budgetary issues. The meeting agreed to set an interim target of doubling biodiversity-related international financial resource flows to developing countries by 2015, and at least maintaining this level until 2020. The meeting also adopted a decision on island biodiversity.

Delegates considered the in-depth review of the programme of work on island biodiversity (PoWIB) conducted by the Convention’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA). In the decision, the COP urged Parties to strengthen implementation of the programme of work by, inter alia, promoting high-level regional commitments, expanding mechanisms to strengthen local capacity, and maintaining key databases and information portals. It called for continued focus on: invasive alien species; climate change adaptation and mitigation; marine protected areas; capacity-building; access and benefit-sharing; and poverty alleviation. The COP also: called on Parties to accord priority to management of terrestrial protected areas; encouraged cross-sectoral partnerships; invited Parties to engage with the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA); and requested the Secretariat to enable regional and global technical support networks.

The agreements on developing countries include targets aiming to improve the robustness of baseline information as well as a preliminary reporting framework for monitoring resource mobilization. [IISD RS Coverage of CBD COP 11]