The Convention on Biological Diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has three main objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of the components of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. More

The Secretariat cooperates, collaborates, and exchanges information with the CBD Secretariat on various matters of common interest, e.g. to prevent and combat illegal traffic in environmentally-sensitive commodities through the Green Customs Initiative.

In 2021, the secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions1 and the secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury prepared a joint study entitled “Interlinkages between the chemicals and waste multilateral environmental agreements and biodiversity” that was considered by the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions and the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury at their respective 2022 meetings.

On the basis of this study, the three BRS COPs, in their decisions BC-15/25, RC-10/14 and SC-10/21, on international cooperation and coordination, called for enhanced cooperation with the Convention on Biological Diversity. These calls for enhanced cooperation include:

  • A request to bring the report on interlinkages to the attention of the fifteenth meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity;
  • An invitation to the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions to take into account the objectives of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, once adoptedm in their actions to implement the conventions;
  • A request to the Secretariat to prepare a report, including possible recommendations, on how the conventions could contribute to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, once adopted for consideration by the next COPs.

The report on interlinkages has been submitted to the fifteenth meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in INF/13 for consideration.