Delegates attending the latest meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s subsidiary body for technical and scientific issues have developed a work programme on island biodiversity.

They also confirmed the suitability of various indicators to assess progress towards the 2010 target of reducing the current rate of biodiversity loss significantly. The tenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) met from 7-11 February 2005, in Bangkok, Thailand.
As well as developing the work programme, delegates also provided advice on the integration of global, outcome-oriented targets into the Convention’s work programmes, and adopted terms of reference for a technical expert group on biodiversity and climate change.
SBSTTA-10 also recommended steps for the review of implementation of the Global Taxonomy Initiative programme of work; proposed options for a cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition; and refined proposals for the application of ways and means to remove or mitigate perverse incentives. The SBSTTA also transmitted its comments on the report of the expert group on genetic use restriction technologies to the Working Group on Article 8(j), and recommended that the COP determine the scope of the mandate of the CBD bodies in relation to the issue.
The recommendations adopted at SBSTTA-10 will be forwarded to the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD, which is scheduled to convene from 8-19 May 2006, in Brazil. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin report.