The Twelfth Meeting of the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions held in Rome Italy

Caption: Participants in the twelfth Meeting of the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions

The twelfth meeting of the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions was held in Rome, Italy, on 28 September 2017, and co-hosted by the Secretariats of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). It brought together the heads of seven international biodiversity-related conventions: the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention), the Secretary Ad-Interim of the ITPGRFA, the Secretary of the IPPC, and the representative of the Director of the World Heritage Centre (WHC).

The meeting was chaired by Mr Kent Nnadozie (Secretary Ad-Interim of the ITPGRFA) and opened by Mr René Castro (FAO Assistant Director-General, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department) who highlighted challenges related to biodiversity and the environment, as well as FAO s organization to tackle those issues. The Executive Secretary of the CBD, Ms Cristiana Pasca Palmer, made closing remarks.

In a spirit of collaboration, members of the Liaison Group who share the common objective of safeguarding biodiversity updated each other on significant recent developments under their conventions. They discussed the preparation of forthcoming meetings, possible ways to elevate the global visibility and political attention to biodiversity, as well as the preparation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. They emphasized the need for a coordinated approach among the biodiversity-related Conventions in order to deliver strong actions for biodiversity.

The IPPC Secretary, Mr Jingyuan Xia, underlined how actions undertaken within the framework of the IPPC contribute to protecting biodiversity, and specifically draw attention to the following related milestones:

• The signature on a joint work plan for cooperation between the Secretariats of the IPPC and the CBD for 2017-2018;
• The creation in 2017 of a task force on sea containers and implementation of the ePhyto pilot project;
• The dissemination of the 2018 IPPC annual theme plant health and environmental protection;
• The promotion of an International Year of Plant Health in 2020; and
• The preparation of the IPPC strategic framework for 2020-2030.