Conference of the Parties (COP)

The Conference of the Parties is the governing body of the Convention, and advances implementation of the Convention through the decisions it takes at its periodic meetings.

To date the Conference of the Parties has held 8 ordinary meetings, and one extraordinary meeting (the latter, to adopt the Biosafety Protocol, was held in two parts). From 1994 to 1996, the Conference of the Parties held its ordinary meetings annually. Since then these meetings have been held somewhat less frequently and, following a change in the rules of procedure in 2000, will now be held every two years. To date the Conference of the Parties has taken a total of 216 procedural and substantive decisions.

The Ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity will be held in Bonn, Germany (19 - 30 May 2008).

Meetings of the Conference of the Parties

COP 9 - Ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Bonn, Germany, 19 - 30 May 2008	109 Documents	36 Decisions
COP 8 - Eighth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Curitiba, Brazil, 20 - 31 March 2006	106 Documents	34 Decisions
COP 7 - Seventh Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 9 - 20 February 2004	92 Documents	36 Decisions
COP 6 - Sixth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity The Hague, Netherlands, 7 - 19 April 2002	114 Documents	32 Decisions
COP 5 - Fifth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Nairobi, Kenya, 15 - 26 May 2000	81 Documents	29 Decisions
ExCOP 1 - First Extraordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Cartagena, Colombia & Montreal, Canada, 22 - 23 February 1999 & 24 - 28 January 2000	24 Documents	3 Decisions
COP 4 - Fourth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Bratislava, Slovakia, 4 - 15 May 1998	71 Documents	19 Decisions
COP 3 - Third Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Buenos Aires, Argentina, 4 - 15 November 1996	112 Documents	27 Decisions
COP 2 - Second Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Jakarta, Indonesia, 6 - 17 November 1995	56 Documents	23 Decisions
COP 1 - First Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Nassau, Bahamas, 28 November - 9 December 1994	33 Documents	13 Decisions

The agenda of the meetings of the Conference of the Parties is very wide-ranging, reflecting the programme of work the Conference of the Parties has established for itself. At its first meeting, the Conference of the Parties decided on a medium-term programme of work for the period 1995-1997. Implementation of this programme has laid the groundwork for the long-term implementation of the Convention itself. In particular it has seen the development of a number of thematic work programmes, and identified a series of key cross-cutting issues relevant to all work programmes.

The fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties established a programme of work to cover the period from then until the seventh meeting and, more importantly, established a process to review the operations of the Convention and set out a longer term programme of work. As part of this process, an intersessional meeting on the operations of the Convention was held in 1999, the results of which were reported to the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties and formed the basis for a decision on future operations of the Convention.

Major themes at meetings of the Conference of the Parties

First ordinary meeting	Guidance to the financial mechanism; Medium-term programme of work;
Second ordinary meeting	Marine and coastal biological diversity; Access to genetic resources; Conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity; Biosafety;
Third ordinary meeting	Agricultural biodiversity; Financial resources and mechanism; Identification, monitoring and assessment; Intellectual property rights;
Fourth ordinary meeting	Inland water ecosystems; Review of the operations of the Convention; Article 8(j) and related issues (traditional knowledge); Benefit sharing;
Fifth ordinary meeting	Dryland, mediterranean, arid, semi-arid, grassland and savannah ecosystems; Sustainable use, including tourism; Access to genetic resources;
Sixth ordinary meeting	Forest ecosystems; Alien species; Benefit-sharing; Strategic plan 2002-2010;
Seventh ordinary meeting	Mountain ecosystems; Protected areas; Transfer of technology and technology cooperation.

In this decision the COP set out a series of standing items for the provisional agenda of its meetings, namely:

Organizational matters;
Reports from subsidiary bodies, the financial mechanism and the Executive Secretary;
Review of the implementation of the programme of work;
Priority issues for review and guidance; and
Other matters.

The COP has also undertaken to prepare and develop a Strategic Plan for the Convention, with a view to adopting it at its sixth meeting. The plan will initially cover the period 2002-2010. It will be based on the longer-term programmes of work of the COP and SBSTTA and is intended to provide strategic and operational guidance for the implementation of these programmes. It will contain a set of operational goals that the Conference of the Parties wishes to be achieved in the period covered by the plan, relating to the three main areas of work, these being the thematic programmes, cross-cutting issues and initiatives, and the implementation of the provisions of the Convention.

Final Report

To download the final reports of all meetings related to the Conference of the Parties, please click here.