Opening statement by Astrid Schomaker Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

I am honoured to serve at the helm of the Secretariat of the Convention and will continue to work closely with the presidency and the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to advance the objectives of the Convention and its Protocols through the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. [...] I will join Liu Ning, the representative of the presidency of the Conference of the Parties, in thanking the Co-Chairs of the Committee of the Whole and the members of the Informal Advisory Group for their work during the intersessional period. [...] Thank you, David, for the wonderful work that you have done and for the extra miles that you will continue to go with the Secretariat team to get us to a successful conclusion at the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. [...] We have collectively overcome the restrictions on intergovernmental work imposed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic through a series of webinars that paved the way for the adoption of the decision at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties by which the multilateral mechanism and its global fund were established. [...] • Since the beginning of the year, many of you have participated in monthly meetings of the Informal Advisory Group to advance the work, in line with the mandate from your first meeting • The Co-Chairs of the Committee of the Whole and the Secretariat have been working hard to develop options that you can consider.