All you need to know about COP

Conference of 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 12 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.

The Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea from 6 - 17 October 2014.

The Thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) will be held in Cancun, Mexico, in December 2016.

Main agenda of the meetings

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.

Meetings held till date:

COP 1 - First Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Nassau, Bahamas, 28 November - 9 December 1994

COP 2 - Second Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Jakarta, Indonesia, 6 - 17 November 1995

COP 3 - Third Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 4 - 15 November 1996

COP 4 - Fourth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Bratislava, Slovakia, 4 - 15 May 1998

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

COP 5 - Fifth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Nairobi, Kenya, 15 - 26 May 2000

COP 6 - Sixth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

The Hague, Netherlands, 7 - 19 April 2002

COP 7 - Seventh Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 9 - 20 February 2004

COP 8 - Eighth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Curitiba, Brazil, 20 - 31 March 2006

COP 9 - Ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Bonn, Germany, 19 - 30 May 2008

COP 10 - Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 18 - 29 October 2010

COP 11 - Eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Hyderabad, India, 8 - 19 October 2012

COP 12 - Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, 6 - 17 October 2014

COP 13- Will be the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Cancun, Mexico, 4 - 17 December 2016

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.

Eighth ordinary meeting

Island biodiversity; Biological diversity of dry and sub-humid lands; Global Taxonomy Initiative; Access and benefit-sharing (Article 15); Article 8(j) and related provisions; Communication, education and public awareness (Article 13).

Ninth ordinary meeting

Agricultural biodiversity; Global Strategy for Plant Conservation; Invasive alien species; Forest biodiversity; Incentive measures; Ecosystem approach; Progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan and progress towards the 2010 traget and relevant Millennium Development Goals; Financial resources and the financial mechanism.

COP also sets 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.