The twenty-first meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the tenth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions will be held in parallel in Montreal, Canada: SBSTTA-21 from 11-14 December 2017; and the Working Group from 13-16 December 2017.

SBSTTA will address, inter alia: scenarios for the 2050 vision for biodiversity and the links between the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); guidance for achieving a more sustainable bushmeat sector; biodiversity and human health; biodiversity mainstreaming in the energy, mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing industry, and in the health sector; tools for evaluating the effectiveness of policy instruments for the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity; and new and emerging issues.

The Article 8(j) Working Group will consider, inter alia: draft voluntary guidelines for the repatriation of traditional knowledge relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; glossary of relevant key terms and concepts to be used within the context of Article 8(j) and related provisions; finalization of tasks of the multi-year programme of work, such as measures to address publicly available traditional knowledge, best practices to implement “prior and informed consent” or “approval and involvement,” and advancement of the identification of the obligations of countries of origin, as well as governments where traditional knowledge is used; assessment of the contribution of indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ collective actions and of account taken of the safeguards in biodiversity financing mechanisms; and in-depth dialogue on the contribution of traditional knowledge to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with particular emphasis on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.