17 October 2014: At the margins of the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 12), the Republic of Korea launched the Bio-Bridge Initiative, a platform meant to link developing countries’ demand for and developed countries’ provision of science and technology, supporting the achievement of CBD goals and targets.

The main elements of Bio-Bridge include: facilitating the communication of technical and scientific needs and priorities of Parties; further enhancing the availability and accessibility of information with respect to best practices and expertise for technical and scientific cooperation to make it more readily and effectively available through the clearing-house mechanism; and facilitating the linkage of Parties’ needs with support for technical and scientific cooperation by relevant global, regional and national organizations and initiatives.

The Initiative was welcomed during CBD working group deliberations as a contribution to the Pyeongchang roadmap. [Bio-Bridge Initiative information document] [IISD RS 10 October coverage of CBD COP 12] [CBD COP 12 side-events information page] [CBD Press Release]