National reporting is a key commitment for Parties to multilateral environmental agreements. The overall aim of national reporting is to inform an improved implementation of the conventions in question. However, in recent years, there has been a growing recognition that the reporting burden has increased. Each convention provides guidance on content and format of these reports, often independent from the other conventions, resulting in duplication, overlaps and inefficiencies, often creating, unnecessarily, an institutional fragmentation at the national level along individual convention themes. Developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries and Small Island Development States, with limited resources are heavily burdened by such requirements. The institutional fragmentation and current GEF support modalities for reporting (through Enabling Activities) are convention-oriented. Opportunities for integrated processes for reporting to the Rio Conventions - Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - have not been explored fully yet. Therefore, the objective of this project is Piloting Integrated Processes and Approaches to Facilitate National Reporting to Rio Conventions. More specifically, the project will (a) develop integrated approaches to data collection/analysis and information management of relevance to the three Rio Conventions at the national level; (b) increase synergies in the process of reporting to the three conventions without compromising relevant COP decisions; and (c) contribute to improved overall planning and decision-making processes at the country level related to the implementation of these three conventions.

The GEF Implementation Agency for the project is the UNEP Division of GEF Coordination and the Executing Agency is the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. The project works through six pilot countries: Afghanistan, Eritrea, Lao PDR, Liberia, Palau and Mauritius. The project duration is from January 2010 to December 2012. The total cost of the project is US$1,7m, with a GEF financing of US$840,000. In February, the project inception workshop and the first meeting of the Project Steering Committee took place in Cambridge, UK.

Project Contacts
At UNEP:
Adamou Bouhari
Task Manager Biodiversity/Land Degradation & West and Central Africa Focal Point
UNEP Division of GEF Coordination (DGEF)
Tel: +254 20 762 3860
Email: Adamou.Bouhari@unep.org

At UNEP-WCMC:
Asghar M. Fazel
Global Project Coordinator