8 August 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has received 175 Fourth National Reports, amounting to 90 percent of CBD Parties having fulfilled their reporting obligations.

According to the Secretariat, the improvement in submission rates reflects the higher importance and greater efforts many Parties have given to the timely preparation of the report. It also may be attributed to the longer time given for preparing the report, as well as to the efforts made by the CBD Secretariat, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other partners in facilitating the preparation and submission of the report. However, the rate of submission of national reports remains unsatisfactory, as only 14 percent of Parties met the mandatory deadline of 30 March 2009 established by the Conference of the Parties for submitting the Reports.

CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf said, “By completing their reports, Parties are not only fulfilling their obligations under the Convention, they are also providing an analysis for their updated national biodiversity strategies and action plans to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as a baseline against which future progress can be assessed.” He called on the remaining 18 Parties that have not yet submitted their Fourth National Reports to do so as soon as possible. [CBD Communiqué] [Fourth National Reports]