The co-facilitators overseeing the preparatory process for a Summit on Biodiversity at the level of Heads of State and Government to be convened by the President of the General Assembly, per resolution A/RES/74/221, have released a final draft of modalities. The modalities will remain under silence procedure from Thursday, 19 March at 10:00 a.m. through 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 23 March 2020.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodrigo Alberto Carazo Zeledón, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN, and Mariangela Zappia, Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN, the co-facilitators overseeing the preparatory process, released the final draft on 13 March 2020. They noted that following a meeting with the President of the General Assembly and given the advanced state of negotiations, that no further consultations would be convened to avoid exposing delegates to unnecessary risks.

The modalities indicate that the Summit on Biodiversity will be held at the UN Headquarters in New York, US on the first day of the general debate of the Assembly at its seventy-fifth session, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Summit will consist of an opening segment, a plenary segment for general discussion, two Leaders’ Dialogues and a brief closing segment. It will convene under the theme, ‘Urgent Action on Biodiversity for Sustainable Development’.

The Summit will convene under the theme, ‘Urgent Action on Biodiversity for Sustainable Development’.

The two consecutive Leaders’ Dialogues of 75 minutes each will begin at 10:00 a.m. on the second day of the general debate. The first Dialogue will convene on the theme ‘Addressing biodiversity loss and mainstreaming biodiversity for sustainable development,’ while the second will address ‘Harnessing science, technology and innovation.’

The modalities request the President of the General Assembly to prepare, before the opening of the 15th meeting of Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, “a factual summary to reflect the discussions of the Summit held to highlight the urgency of action at the highest levels in support of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework that contributes to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and places the global community on a path towards realizing the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity on Living in harmony with nature.” [Letter from the President of the General Assembly dated 13 March 2020]