9 May 2012: The Central American Commission on Environment and Development’s (CCAD) Council of Ministers has approved the creation of the first Scientific Council on Biodiversity for the Central American Integration System (SICA). The Scientific Council will create a network of biodiversity experts to recommend new policies for SICA member countries, and will work to ensure the technical quality of work plans of the Regional Biodiversity Institute (IRBIO).

IRBIO is the technical body created by CCAD in 2005 to provide information and advice on biodiversity policies to the governments of Central America and the Dominican Republic, carry out regional analyses of biodiversity and develop regional monitoring and evaluation of biodiversity within the framework of the Central American Environmental Plan (PARCA).

The Scientific Council, whose first members will serve until 2015, consists of biodiversity researchers active in the Central American countries, academics in universities within and outside the region.

The XXXVIII Special Meeting of the Council of Ministers, held from 8-9 May 2012, in Zamorano, Honduras, also: discussed a common position on key issues to be discussed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20); approved a CCAD restructuring proposed by the Executive Secretariat; and discussed preparations for the next Mesoamerican Congress of Protected Areas, to be held in Costa Rica, in May 2013.

Ministers also reviewed and approved a proposal by the Executive Secretariat to restructure CCAD as part of the process to integrate all technical secretariats and regional projects of SICA in a single general secretariat, as called for in ministerial and presidential mandates. Under the restructuring, the Secretariat is organized into two work areas, Environmental Governance and Integration, and Cooperation, while various existing working groups would be grouped together under three standing Technical Committees: Climate Change, Nature, and Environmental Quality Management. [CCAD General Release (Spanish)] [CCAD Release on Biodiversity Council (Spanish)] [CCAD Release on Reorganization (Spanish)]