Negotiator's toolkit

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

Despite more progress at this two-week session than over the last decade, delegates were unable to reach consensus on a new high seas treaty addressing marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and, instead, suspended the session, to be resumed

Following two weeks of high-level discussions and negotiations, delegates adopted 38 decisions to improve drought resilience, reduce land degradation, invest in land restoration efforts, and improve synergies with the climate change and biodiversity conventions.

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.

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.

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

Both the CST and the CRIC completed their work ahead of schedule, while several decisions at the heart of the negotiations, including adoption of the 2018-2030 Strategic Framework, alignment of the Convention with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and

Delegates considered 90 agenda items and 62 species-listing proposals submitted by 64 countries. Some of the resolutions and decisions adopted concern: actions to combat wildlife trafficking; demand reduction strategies to combat illegal trade in CITES-listed species; provisions on international trade