2nd Extraordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD ExCOP 2)

The fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, along with the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, was scheduled to be held in October 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this meeting has been postponed to 2021. As a result, the COP was unable to adopt a programme budget for the next biennium (2021-2022).

Since the approval of the new programme budget was not possible, the COP Bureau held consultations with the parties who agreed to convene extraordinary meetings of the COP and the COP/MOPs to consider and approve an interim budget for 2021 based on the work of an informal group on budget. Therefore, the second extraordinary meeting of the COP and the first extraordinary meetings of the COP/MOPs to the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols will be held from 16 to 19 November 2020, remotely, through a silence/written procedure, as agreed by the Bureau.

The meeting will be considered to have started at 7:00 am Montreal time (UTC 12 noon) on Monday, 16 November 2020, by the transmission of the written statement of the President. The written statement will enclose a draft decision text on an interim budget for 2021 as proposed by the President, for comments by the registered representatives of parties. The proposed draft decision text will be placed under silence procedure, until 7:00 am Montreal time (UTC 12 noon) on Thursday, 19 November 2020. If the silence is not broken (i.e. no comment has been received during the preceding 72 hours), the decision will be considered adopted, and the President will announce same through a written statement that will be transmitted to delegations at 8:00 am Montreal time (UTC 1 p.m.) the same day.

IISD, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, will publish a summary and analysis report from CBD ExCOP 2 on Saturday, 21 November 2020.