Approximately 600 participants attended the 9th Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which convened from 10-14 November 2003, in Montreal, Canada.

SBSTTA-9 delegates addressed an ambitious agenda, including two main themes for discussion, protected areas, and technology transfer and cooperation. They adopted 16 recommendations on: protected areas; technology transfer; genetic use restriction technologies; biodiversity and climate change; monitoring and indicators; the Global Taxonomy Initiative; the integration of outcome-oriented targets into the CBD’s programmes of work; outcome-oriented targets for the Global Strategy on Plant Conservation; mountain biodiversity; sustainable use; perverse incentives; invasive alien species; guidelines for implementing the ecosystem approach; and progress reports on implementation. The recommendations will be forwarded to the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP-7) to be held from 9-20 February 2004, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Among the meeting’s highlights, SBSTTA-9 delegates adopted proposed elements for programmes of work on protected areas and technology transfer, as well as mechanisms for reviewing implementation and for integrating outcome-oriented targets into the CBD’s work programmes. The meeting also welcomed the joint-NGO Pledge to provide and mobilize financial and technical support for the work programme on protected areas. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin report on this meeting is available at: http://enb.iisd.org/biodiv/sbstta9/