21 October 2013: Convened from 14-18 October 2013, in Montreal, Canada, the seventeenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 17) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) featured a new format aiming to enhance its scientific and technical focus. SBSTTA 17 focused on the scientific and technical needs related to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi targets, and its contribution to the intersessional process of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

SBSTTA 17 was held immediately following the eighth meeting of the CBD Working Group on Article 8(j) (traditional knowledge). The meeting’s new format included panel presentations on each agenda item, followed by the delivery of statements and the convening of two Friends of the Chair drafting groups.

SBSTTA 17 adopted three recommendations on: scientific and technical needs for implementing the Strategic Plan; new and emerging issues, and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Key scientific and technical needs identified addressed: better ways to draw on social sciences; more accessible, affordable, comprehensive, reliable and comparable data and information streams; evaluation and assessment of the status and trends of species and ecosystems; improvement of planning and mainstreaming; better integration of science and policy making; better understanding of ecosystem processes and functions and their implications for ecosystem conservation and restoration; better understanding of the performance of economic instruments, and improved guidance and tools to develop positive incentives and eliminate harmful ones; better ways to include relevant traditional knowledge systems; ways to foster improved scientific and technical cooperation; and the strengthening of non-monetary valuation tools and methodologies for the maintenance of ecosystem functions.

Furthermore, SBSTTA requested the Secretariat to transmit to IPBES its key findings on scientific and technical needs, and enhance collaboration with IPBES regarding the IPBES work programme. It also recommended to the CBD Conference of the Parties (COP) that the impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides on biodiversity be addressed under the CBD work programme on agricultural biodiversity and be brought to the attention of the IPBES. [SBSTTA 17 Webpage][IISD RS coverage of SBSTTA 17]