On 2 September, the Danish Presidency of the EU Council and the European Commission, supported by CO-OP4CBD, hosted an online dialogue attended by over 50 participants representing key biodiversity stakeholder groups, including:

• thematic experts and researchers
• state representatives from the European Union and Associated Countries, 
• members of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, UNESCO, the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB), the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the ICCA Consortium

The event was an opportunity for all these attendees to provide information and discuss elements for the development of the guidelines set out in the Programme of Work and deliberate on advice on traditional knowledge inputs for the global report on collective progress in the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

This meeting took place in preparation for the first meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Article 8(j) and other provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity related to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, which will take place in October of this year in Panama, in what is known as the SB8(j) process.

Representatives of indigenous peoples, experts, organisations and countries were thus able to express their analyses, concerns and opinions on these topics, thereby initiating a constructive dialogue in preparation for the regional and national positions in the upcoming SB8(j) meeting.

The CO-OP4CBD team is pleased to have contributed to this dialogue as the first of its kind, showcasing both the need and the added value of science-policy interfaces within and beyond the EU. The project offers various resources to assist in navigating this context - feel free to check out our Training Corner and contact us!