Informal session in preparation for SBSTTA-24
While the formal meetings of SBSTTA-24 and SBI-3 are delayed because of the ongoing pandemic, virtual informal sessions of these meeting are being convened as follows:
- Informal session in preparation for SBSTTA-24: 17-19 February and 24-26 February 2021;
All sessions will last three hours per day and will be held from 13:00. to 16:00 CET.) Coverage and reporting will be made available here.
The virtual informal sessions are intended to help to maintain momentum in the preparation for the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) and related meetings, including important work related to the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The sessions will facilitate preparations for the subsequent formal meetings of the two bodies. The sessions will provide opportunities for statements by Parties and observers on the issues on the agenda of SBSTTA-24 and SBI-3. They will also provide an opportunity for participants to further familiarize themselves with the practice of virtual meetings and interactions. However, no decisions or formal outcomes or conference room papers will be prepared at the informal sessions.
Click below to view the scenario notes for the informal sessions:
Twenty-fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice
Article 25 of the Convention on Biological Diversity establishes an open-ended intergovernmental scientific advisory body known as the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) to provide the Conference of the Parties (COP) and, as appropriate, its other subsidiary bodies, with timely advice relating to the implementation of the Convention. As a subsidiary body of the COP, SBSTTA is to report regularly to the COP on all aspects of its work. Multidisciplinary and open to participation by all Parties, SBSTTA comprises government representatives competent in the relevant field of expertise. Its functions include: providing assessments of the status of biological diversity; providing assessments of the types of measures taken in accordance with the provisions of the Convention; and responding to questions that the COP may put to the body. SBSTTA has met 23 times to date and produced a total of 240 recommendations to the Conference of the Parties, most of which have formed the basis for decisions of the Conference of the Parties.
SBSTTA-24 will consider the following agenda items:
- The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework
- Synthetic biology
- Risk assessment and risk management of living modified organisms (LMOs)
- Marine and coastal biodiversity
- Biodiversity and agriculture
- Programme of work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
- Biodiversity and health
- Invasive alien species
