Andreas Drews, GIZ, highlighted how the ABS Initiative is directing its focus towards implementation, and illustrated how the initiative engaged partners at regional and sub-regional levels.

Valerie Normand, CBD Secretariat, described awareness raising and capacity development work being conducted by the Secretariat with support from the GEF, including outreach in support of the ratification of the Nagoya Protocol, briefings with parliamentarians and decision-makers, and ABS workshops held back-to-back with NBSAP workshops.

The first of two panels provided a donor perspective on the ABS Initiative. Panelists were: Christian Glass, German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development; Bente Herstad, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD); Rajae Chafil, Institute of Energy and Environment of the Francophonie (IEPF); Matthias Buck, European Commission; and Søren Jensen, Danish Ministry of Environment. The panelist discussed how the ABS Initiative will play a central role in implementation of the Nagoya Protocol by bringing together partners and scaling up national ABS experience to regional levels.

Suhel al-Janabi, GeoMedia, moderated a second panel that discussed mainstreaming ABS into different policy areas at national and regional levels and within the framework of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. Panelists were: Kent Nnadozie, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA); Pierre du Plessis, Namibia; Prudence Galega, Cameroon; Terence Hay-Edie, GEF Small Grants; Søren Jensen, Danish Ministry of Environment; Mahlet Teshome, African Union Commission (DHRST); and Kauna Schroeder, Namibia. Participants provided concrete examples of: cross-sectoral mainstreaming of ABS; experiences in drafting national ABS strategies; and integrating ABS into NBSAPs and national development plans.

Pierre du Plessis, Namibia, stressed the need for capacity building for communities on intellectual property rights and negotiating commercial licensing agreements. Terence Hay-Edie, GEF Small Grants, discussed the types of support available for ABS projects. Finally Mahlet Teshome, DHRST, reported on the African Union’s development of guidelines for a coordinated approach towards implementing the Nagoya Protocol in Africa.

Axel Benemann, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany, highlighted the German government’s International Climate Initiative (ICI) and support for REDD-PAC (Policy Assessment Center), emphasizing the importance of synergies and mainstreaming to avoid multiple instruments on REDD+ under separate conventions.

Johannes Stahl, CBD Secretariat, provided an overview of REDD+ and CBD policy links. He noted that draft advice for COP 11 is based on: views and input from parties; the results of a series of four global expert workshops; and calls for synergies in the implementation of REDD+; and the Strategic Plan for biodiversity 2011-2020; as well as support for biodiversity safeguard initiatives.

Florain Kraxner, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), discussed the REDD-PAC project on land-use modeling at the global and regional scales to support national and regional REDD+ policies. He said the project was much more “than just avoiding deforestation” and also considered all the multiple benefits including: increased forest cover; conservation and sustainable management of forests; and enhancing forest carbon stocks and biodiversity.

Nguyen Ngoc Linh, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Viet Nam provided a project country partner perspective on integrating REDD+ into Viet Nam’s NBSAP. She observed that REDD+ was being considered in the NBSAP as a potential mechanism for contributing to the delivery on a number of relevant national biodiversity targets.

Rubin Rashidi, National REDD Coordination, Democratic Republic of Congo, provided an additional project country partner viewpoint. He emphasized the importance of mapping potential benefits as well as mapping key biodiviersity areas and hotspots. On further work required, he stressed that safeguards are key to implementing the multiple benefits of REDD+.

Klemens Riha, GIZ, discussed options for REDD+ and related risks, opportunities and safeguards for biodiversity, highlighting two country case studies from the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos and Ecuador. He noted that the purpose of the case studies had been to explore synergies between biodiveristy and REDD+ and that potential for REDD+ opportunities for biodiversity and conservation had been identified.

Rebecca Mant, UNEP WCMC posed two question to participants on: whether REDD+ and national policies are likely to consider biodiversity and if so how?; and the extent to which in different countries REDD+ will take into account biodiversity.

Raghuvansh Saxena, Earthwatch Institute, opened the session with an overview of the programme in India, stressing that it provides opportunities to bring scientists, citizens, and youth together at the field level, generate public awareness on climate change and threats to biodiversity, and facilitate corporate engagement in biodiversity monitoring and conservation.

Aloka Majumdar, HSBC, summarized the HSBC Climate Partnership with the Earthwatch Institute, in which employees volunteer with environmental research and conservation projects. She noted that the programme is now used in leadership skills development where employees gain knowledge that will be critical to future work in sustainable financing.

Prabhakar Bhat, Indian Institute of Science, reported on a project in the Western Ghats region where HSBC volunteers conducted research on forest biodiversity. He explained that volunteers worked with local communities and academic institutions to collect biological data that will be used to monitor climate change impacts on local forests.

Biswajit Roy Chowdhury, Nature Environment and Wildlife Society, described how citizen science is employed in environmental monitoring of the Kolkata Wetlands, where volunteers collect data on flora and fauna, study threats to endemic species, monitor water quality, and study land-use change.

D. Suryakumari, Centre for People’s Forestry, presented on a collaboration with Earthwatch Institute to introduce young executives to climate change issues. She noted that volunteers often leave commited to reducing their carbon footprint.

V. Shubhalaxmi, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), discussed volunteer programming through their "Be a Scientist Programme". She explained that volunteers conduct biodiversity richness studies, maintain nature trails, participate in brainstorming sessions on greening their personal lives, and can be trained as volunteer nature guides.

Anjal Prakash, Saciwaters, reported on threats to urban water bodies in Hyderabad, including urban encroachment, pollution, overutilization of groundwater resources, and disruptions of water flow. He illustrated how HSBC volunteers collect water quality data and map sources of water pollution as part of a lake inventory. He noted that this data will be used for advocacy.

Shirdi Sai Pranit highlighted his experience as a HSBC volunteer and Climate Champion. He described how his volunteer experience led him to coordinate sustainability projects at HSBC, including sourcing greener paper products and educating urban youth on climate change.