The seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-7) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) took place from 9-20 February 2004, at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Over 2,300 participants attended, representing 161 governments, as well as UN agencies, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, indigenous and local community representatives, academia and industry. Delegates to COP-7 adopted 33 decisions on, inter alia: biodiversity and tourism; monitoring and indicators; the ecosystem approach; biodiversity and climate change; invasive alien species; the Strategic Plan; mountain biodiversity; inland water ecosystems; marine and coastal biodiversity; protected areas (PAs); access and benefit-sharing (ABS); technology transfer and cooperation; Article 8(j) (traditional knowledge); and incentive measures. A Ministerial Segment convened on Wednesday and Thursday, 18-19 February, and adopted the Kuala Lumpur Ministerial Declaration.
The meeting’s major achievements include: the completion of the terms of reference for the Working Group on ABS to elaborate and negotiate the nature, scope and elements of an international ABS regime; the adoption of a work programme on PAs, with the objective of establishing and maintaining by 2010 for terrestrial areas, and by 2012 for marine areas, ecologically representative PA systems; and the adoption of a good framework for evaluating the Strategic Plan’s implementation, including a set of indicators, goals and targets.
These outcomes represent a solid basis for the Convention to address its priorities in the medium- and long-term future, and respond to the biodiversity-related outcomes of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, including the target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss by 2010. However, unsuccessful parallel consultations related to the disputed status of the COP-6 decision on invasive alien species, and creeping issues, including trade-related considerations, disrupted the spirit of cooperation and unexpectedly hampered discussions on other agenda items, such as mountain biodiversity and inland water ecosystems. For the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s coverage of the meeting, including photographs, daily reports and a summary and analysis, visit: http://enb.iisd.org/biodiv/cop7/