What has been done on monitoring and reporting

At its tenth meeting, COP-MOP, through decision CP-10/9, expressed concern about the low number of fourth national reports submitted and regarding delays in submitting projects to the Global Environment Facility to support eligible Parties in the preparation of their fourth national reports. Parties were reminded of their obligation to publish their national reports on the Biosafety Clearing-House, in accordance with Article 20 of the Protocol. Parties welcomed the draft format for the fifth national reports as contained in the annex to document CBD/CP/MOP/10/5, and requested the Executive Secretary to make any necessary adjustments to the questions in light of the final text of the indicators of the post-2020 Implementation Plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. COP-MOP stressed the importance of the timely submission of fifth national reports in order to facilitate the mid-term evaluation of the Implementation Plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and requested Parties and invited other Governments to submit to the Secretariat their fifth national report on the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety at the same time as the seventh national reports under the Convention are due (COP decision 15/6).

At its ninth meeting, COP-MOP, through decision CP-9/5, adopted the reporting format for the fourth national report and requested Parties and invited other Governments to submit the fourth national report on the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, setting out the modalities for doing so.

The COP-MOP also accepted the invitation of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, contained in COP decision 14/27, and decided to have a synchronized national reporting cycle commencing in 2023.

At its eighth meeting, the COP-MOP, in decision CP-VIII/14, expressed concern about the lower rate of submission of the third national reports in comparison to the previous reporting cycle and requested the Compliance Committee to explore the reasons for the lower rate of submissions. The COP-MOP urged Parties that had not yet submitted their third national report to do so as soon as possible. The Secretariat was requested to develop a revised format for the fourth national reports with a view to ensuring complete and accurate information is captured while maintaining the applicability of baseline information by improving the formulation of questions for clarity, eliminating redundancy, and adding questions to address the mainstreaming of biosafety into national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and to submit the revised format for review by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and for consideration by the COP-MOP at its ninth meeting.

At its thirteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in decision XIII/27, requested the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties, to develop, subject to subsequent endorsement by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, proposals for the alignment of national reporting under the Convention and its Protocols, and to report on progress to the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at its second meeting.

At its seventh meeting, the COP-MOP in decision BS-VII/14, requested revisions to the reporting format for the third national report and to make it available through the BCH. It further requested Parties to use it to prepare, through a consultative process, their third national reports and submit their results 12 months prior to COP-MOP 8 in an official UN language.

At its sixth meeting, COP-MOP, welcomed, in its decision BS-VI/14, the high rate of submission of second national reports. It urged those Parties that have not submitted their national report, to do so at the earliest opportunity. It encouraged Parties to facilitate the preparation and submission of their national reports by using, as appropriate technical and other resources available in existing bilateral, sub-regional and regional arrangements, and the roster of biosafety experts. COP-MOP also reminded Parties of paragraph 2 of decision BS-V/14, which requests Parties submitting their national report for the first time to use the reporting format for the second national report.

COP-MOP 6 requested the Secretariat to assist Parties in making information that is missing from their report available through the Biosafety Clearing-House. It also requested the Secretariat to update the reporting format and submit a revised one to the seventh meeting of the Parties taking into account the experience gained in analyzing the second national reports, the recommendations of the Compliance Committee and the feedback received from Parties.

At its fifth meeting, the COP-MOP in decision BS-V/14 welcomed the reporting format for the national report on the implementation of the Protocol proposed by the Secretariat and requested Parties to use it for the preparation of their second national reports, through consultative processes involving all relevant stakeholders. It also encouraged Parties to respond to all questions in the reporting format in order to facilitate the establishment of baselines for subsequent assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Protocol. Parties that encounter difficulty in completing and submitting their national report on time were encouraged to seek assistance from the Secretariat or the Compliance Committee, and/or make use of the roster of biosafety experts. The GEF was also requested to make financial resources available to eligible Parties for the preparation of their second national reports. Furthermore, COP-MOP requested the Secretariat to organize an online forum and/or regional or subregional workshops on national reporting to assist Parties in the preparation of their national reports and exchange best practices and experience on the fulfilment of the monitoring and reporting obligations under the Protocol.

At its fourth meeting, the COP-MOP considered an analysis of first national reports prepared by the Secretariat. In its decision BS-IV/14, it requested the Secretariat to repeat the analysis of the first national reports submitted after the deadline and make the analysis available through the BCH. It also requested the Secretariat to propose improvements to the reporting format from experiences of the first national reports, the recommendations of the Compliance Committee and suggestions made by Parties, for consideration at COP-MOP 5. In addition, urged the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to make financial resources available to improve capacity-building in preparing their national report.

At its third meeting, the COP-MOP adopted, after considering the analysis of the interim reports that were submitted to the Parties, in decision BS-III/14, a reporting format for the first regular national report on implementation of the Protocol and outlined a schedule and the process for the preparation and synthesis of the reports for consideration at the fourth COP-MOP meeting.