Negotiator's toolkit

Environmental externalities, underwater cultural heritage, test mining, regional environmental management plans, environmental compensation fund, royalties, safety measures… The list goes on. New elements continue to be added to the already complex and interlinked group of elements that need to be

Beyond addressing resource mobilization and the illegal traffic of hazardous chemicals and wastes, delegates tried to effectiveness challenges under the Rotterdam Convention, listed new persistent organic pollutants and adopted a compliance mechanism under the Stockholm Convention, and tackled guidelines on

Delegates adopted 46 proposals to increase or decrease controls on international trade in wildlife and wildlife products, bringing many species of sharks, lizards, turtles, fish, birds, frogs, and plants under the Convention’s control to ensure the sustainability of these species

At the most productive meeting so far, “unprecedented progress” was made in discussions on marine genetic resources, including benefit sharing, area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, and capacity building and the transfer of marine technology.

Parties adopted the Gandhinagar Declaration calling for migratory species and “ecological connectivity” to be integrated and prioritized in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Parties also added 10 new species to the Convention on Migratory Species Appendices, approved conservation plans for

Delegates to the Barcelona Convention adopted 14 decisions—one on the programme of work and budget for 2020-2021, and 13 thematic decisions, including on governance, an emissions control area for sulphur oxides, and marine pollution from land-based sources.

Delegates delved, for the first time, into textual negotiations on the basis of a “zero draft” containing treaty text developed by Conference President Rena Lee (Singapore). Deliberations were productive but there is still much work to be done with the

COP18 highlighted the increasing pressures on CITES as an instrument to counter the rising scale of biodiversity loss, as parties struggled to address stresses other than trade on wildlife populations, including habitat loss, disease outbreaks, and human-wildlife conflict. These are