12 July 2011: A regional workshop on finance and biodiversity, organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Country Support Programme, was held on 9 July 2011, in Dakar, Senegal.

At the meeting, which was organized with the financial support of the European Commission, CBD national focal points from Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Senegal, Mali and Mauritania, and the GEF explored financial strategies to support the implementation of the outcomes of the tenth meeting of the CBD Conference of the Parties (COP 10) in West Africa. All countries indicated that they are in the advanced stage of signing the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of their utilization, and have taken initial steps with a view to revising their national biodiversity strategies and action plans in response to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

Participants highlighted the importance of capacity building to access international financial assistance, tailored support from international organizations, including separate funding baskets for the least developed countries and the small island developing States, and funding synergies on global issues, particularly between the Rio conventions. On the resource mobilization strategy, participants noted the availability of the indicative guidelines for developing country-specific resource mobilization strategies, and called on the CBD Secretariat to provide tools or guidelines on the engagement of private sector resources as well as on economic valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Participants also discussed the process of appointing resource mobilization focal points, and strongly recommended that GEF national focal points should attend CBD meetings, and that CBD national focal points should participate in meetings of the GEF governing bodies [CBD Communiqué]