Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity

Introduction

On March 27, 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in the city of Curitiba, Brazil between the Convention on Biological Diversity and six leading scientific institutions: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de France, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.

The purpose of the MOU is to leverage the expertise and experience of these institutions in order to implement education and training activities to support developing countries that are building scientific, technical and policy skills in the area of biodiversity.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew played host to the first meeting of the steering committee on 8 to 9 September. A work programme was negotiated for the next two years combining existing initiatives with new capacity-building activities to support Parties in the implementation of the Convention.

The Kew meeting also presented an opportunity for three additional institutions to express their interest in becoming signatories to the MOU. The institutions are: Museums Nature Montréal, the Geneva Museum of Natural History, and the Mexican Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad de México). The latter institution became a signatory to the MOU in Geneva on 13 September 2006.

Member Institutions of the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity

• The Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de France
• The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
• The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
• The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
• The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
• The National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad de México
• Museums Nature Montréal

Reports of the Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity

First meeting: 8-9 September 2006
PDF version Word version

Second meeting: 17 October 2007
PDF version Word version

The Buffon Declaration: concluding message from the Buffon Symposium, 18-19 October 2007, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris
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