Agenda for Part One of UN Biodiversity Conference- 11 to 15 October, Kunming, China

MEDIA ADVISORY

Agenda for Part One of UN Biodiversity Conference

11 to 15 October, Kunming, China

Montreal, 7 October 2021 – Part One of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP-15) gets underway in Kunming, China, on 11 October 2021. Due to the pandemic situation, this first phase of the conference will be held mostly virtually, with limited onsite participation in Kunming.

UN Biodiversity Conference comprises the following meetings held concurrently:

- Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022/cop-15/documents

- Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022/cp-mop-10/documents

- Fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising from Their Utilization. www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022/np-mop-04/documents

- High-Level Segment: www.cbd.int/meetings/COP-15-HLS

Media accredited for online participation will soon receive their priority pass that provides access to the streaming feeds on the Interactio platform starting at 15:00 hours Kunming time/07:00 UTC, including the press conferences on 13 and 15 October.

Media accredited for online access will be given the opportunity to submit questions for the two Press Conferences. Note that due to time constraints, not all questions will be answered in the conference. The request for these questions will be forthcoming in the next days.

All sessions at the UN Biodiversity conference will be available to the public as of 15:00 hours Kunming time/07:00 UTC on the YouTube Channel of the Secretariat at: www.cbd.int/live

11 October 2021:

Opening Plenary - 15:00 to 18:15 Kunming time/07:00-10:15 UTC

- COP-14 President Minster Yasmine Fouad, Egypt opens meeting; election of Mr. Huang Runqiu, Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, who assumes COP Presidency.

- Welcoming statements by Chinese Leaders

- UNEP Executive Director, Ms. Inger Andersen, and CBD Executive Secretary, Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, highlight main issues before COP.

Interim budget to be introduced: allows Convention and Secretariat to continue business until meeting’s Part 2 in April/May 2022.

- Co-chairs of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (WG2020), Francis Ogwal of Uganda and Basile Van Havre of Canada, to report on progress of work in preparing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. - Parties to receive reports on items under CBD’s bodies for science (Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice) and implementation (Subsidiary Body on Implementation)

- The Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols will receive reports from their respective compliance committees.

12 October:

High-Level Segment (HLS) 14:00–21:30 Kunming time/06:00-13:30 UTC

- HLS includes a Leader’s Summit, two virtual plenary sessions, four round tables (two parallel sessions per day), and a press conference.

- Leader’s Summit (14:00-15:00 Kunming/06:00-07:00 UTC): One-hour Summit features Heads of State and Government, and the United Nations Secretary-General

- Ministerial Segment: Opening plenary (15:30 – 18:00 Kunming/07:30-10:00 UTC).

- Remarks by COP-15 President Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment of China; Ms. Inger Anderson, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme; Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD Executive Secretary.

- Plenary panels to follow, feature heads of international organizations and three agenda items:

o Ways biodiversity protection feeds into jobs, health, economic growth, education and culture

o Alignment of finance and capacity-building to protect biodiversity

o Synergies between the oceans, biodiversity and climate agendas.

- First parallel roundtable sessions (19:00-21:30 Kunming/11:00-01:30 UTC) will include discussions and interventions from over 100 ministers. Discussions geared towards driving political momentum towards development of an ambitious and effective post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

o Putting Biodiversity on a Path to Recovery - Investing in conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity, and addressing the main drivers of biodiversity loss, across landscapes and seascapes, and engaging all people.

o Closing the Financing Gap and Ensuring the Means of Implementation - Transforming incentives, mobilizing resources and aligning all financial flows to support biodiversity, including through COVID-19 economic recovery programmes.

13 October:

High Level Segment (HLS) 10:00 – 17:00 Kunming/02:00-11:00 UTC

- Second parallel roundtable sessions Continue (10:00-12:30 Kunming/02:00-04:30 UTC)

o Biodiversity conservation and sustainable development

o Knowledge, Innovation and Benefit Sharing

- Ministerial Segment Plenary (15:00-17:00 Kunming/07:00-09:00 UTC)

o Report back from the Co-Chairs of the Roundtables

o Adoption of the Kunming Declaration

o Statements by Regions and Major Groups (TBD)

o Closing Remarks

- Press conference (19:00–20:00 Kunming/11:00-12:00 UTC) o Mr. Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment

o Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD Executive Secretary

o Mr. Wang Yubo, Governor of Yunnan Province

14 October: Forum on Ecological Civilization (9:00-12:00 Kunming/01:00-04:00 UTC)

- Organized by the Government of China. Forum to explore the concept of ecological civilization in line with the COP-15 theme: "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.”

- Objective to provide platform for representatives from all walks of life to: o Share experiences/achievements in global biodiversity conservation, improving people's livelihoods and well-being, and green development. o Gather consensus on ecological civilization. o Promote and exchange cooperation in global biodiversity conservation and ecological civilization-related fields. o Provide experience and wisdom for building a global community of life and achieving harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature.

- Opening of seven sub-forums (14:30 to 18:00 Kunming/06:30-10:00 UTC) on 14 October, continued on 15 October (8:30 to 11:30 Kunming/00:30-03:30 UTC)

- Sub-forums gathers speakers from across China and around the world:

o Sub-forum 1: Towards a Carbon Neutral Future Synergy between Climate Change and Biodiversity

o Sub-forum 2: Ecological Civilization and Biodiversity mainstreaming

o Sub-forum 3: Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets - From Concept to Practice

o Sub-forum 4: Nature-based Solutions for Ecological Conservation and Restoration

o Sub-forum 5: Natural Capital Accounting and Ecological Product Value Realization

o Sub-forum 6: Ecological Civilization and Ecological Security of the Tibetan Plateau

o Sub-forum 7: Financial Sector Supporting Biodiversity - Launch of "Building a Shared Community of Life on Earth and Protecting Global Biodiversity" initiative. 15 October: Closing Day

- Continuation of Sub-Forums (8:30 to 11:30, Kunming/00:30-03:30 UTC)

- Plenary to reconvene from 15:00 to 17:00 Kunming time/07:00-09:00 UTC

o COP President to present outcomes of High-Level Segment

o Adoption of interim budget

o Adoption of Report on Phase One of meeting.

- Meeting to resume in-person from 25 April to 8 May in Kunming, China.

- Meeting formally closes 8 May 2022.

- Closing press conference (19:00 – 20:00 Kunming/11:00-12:00 UTC)

o Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD Executive Secretary

o Mr. Huang Runqiu, Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China

NOTES TO EDITORS

- Online Media Accreditation for Part one of the UN Biodiversity Conference is now closed, but media can view all streams on the Secretariat web pages at: www.cbd.int/live

- Meeting webpages: www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022

- High-Level Segment documents: www.cbd.int/meetings/COP-15-HLS

- Draft Kunming Declaration: www.cbd.int/doc/c/df35/4b94/5e86e1ee09bc8c7d4b35aaf0/kunmingdeclaration-en.pdf

- Post-2020 global biodiversity framework: www.cbd.int/article/draft-1-global-biodiversity-framework

- WG2020 Co-Chairs, with support from the CBD Secretariat, have prepared 25 one-pagers that explain the post-2020 global biodiversity framework: www.cbd.int/article/first-draft-global-biodiversity-framework-one-pagers