About
About the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, is one of the key agreements on a comprehensive strategy for sustainable development. The Convention has 193 Parties and three main goals:
- the conservation of biological diversity.
- the sustainable use of its components, and
- the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources.
The overarching implementation framework is the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 adopted at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) held in October 2010, in Nagoya, Japan. Additional information on the Convention can be found on the CBD website.
About the CBD Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM)
The Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM) provides the information exchange platform of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Created in accordance with Article 18(3), it has evolved into a global network of websites with the CBD website (www.cbd.int) as its central node, and national Clearing-House Mechanisms as national nodes of the network. The mission of the clearing-house mechanism for the period 2011-2020, as adopted by decision X/15, is "to contribute significantly to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, through effective information services and other appropriate means in order to promote and facilitate scientific and technical cooperation, knowledge sharing, and information exchange, and to establish a fully operational network of Parties and partners". Further details on the clearing-house mechanism are available in the "Proposed work programme for the clearing-house mechanism in support for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020" (document UNEP/CBD/COP/11/31).
About this website
This website has been established to provide an overview of the CHM network. This site is still undergoing development and is expected to evolve in the near future.