Our objectives
The Belgian National Focal Point to the Convention on Biological Diversity (or, short: the National Focal Point, NFP CBD) is Belgium’s official contact for all issues related to the working of the Convention.
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The National Focal Point stimulates the conservation, sustainable use and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of biodiversity, by disseminating information, facilitating national coordination and implementation of policies, and by raising awareness on biodiversity. |
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As a consequence of the division in Belgium of competences related to biodiversity over different entities, one of our key roles is to facilitate collaboration among different actors involved in biodiversity and related policies (the regions, the federal level, communities, local actors, non-governmental organisations, the private sector,…). |
Every country that has ratified the convention is deemed to designate a national focal point. Belgium designated the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences as this national focal point. Consequently, it is ideally suited to supply scientific support to policy related to biodiversity.
The National Focal Point team is part of the Operational Directorate Natural Environment and supplies science-based policy support in collaboration with partners within the BIOPOLS group, in particular the CEBioS-programme. The latter organizes capacity-building to partners of the Belgian Development Cooperation.
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The Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM) provides the information exchange platform of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Created in accordance with Article 18(3), it has evolved into a global network of websites with the CBD website (www.cbd.int) as its central node, and national Clearing-House Mechanisms as national nodes of the network.
The mission of the clearing-house mechanism for the period 2011-2020, as adopted by decision X/15, is "to contribute significantly to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, through effective information services and other appropriate means in order to promote and facilitate scientific and technical cooperation, knowledge sharing, and information exchange, and to establish a fully operational network of Parties and partners".
Its mission is articulated around three major goals:
- The central clearing-house mechanism provides effective global information services to facilitate the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
- National clearing-house mechanisms provide effective information services to facilitate the implementation of the national biodiversity strategies and action plans.
- Partners significantly expand the clearing-house mechanism network and services.