Mandate of the CBD Alliance

In 2008 the CBD Alliance (board and community) adopted the following mandate that brings together the above general goals and activities:

The CBD Alliance does not represent civil society organizations around the CBD – nor do we speak for the diversity of civil society voices. Rather, the CBD Alliance exists to facilitate more diverse, coordinated, and effective civil society input into CBD policy-making. The Alliance is premised on the belief that global policy-making should be a transparent and democratic undertaking, not the purview of global policy elites and Northern bureaucrats. Biodiversity policy cannot be successful if it is largely controlled from Geneva, Washington or London; if the CBD is to succeed, it desperately needs more diverse voices, especially those most impacted by the policies themselves.

Thus, the Alliance works to broaden the scope of civil society groups involved in CBD processes, particularly to increase the informed and effective participation of Southern NGOs, Indigenous Peoples, Community Based Organizations and social movements. The Alliance exists to help CSOs be more effective in their CBD-related advocacy by facilitating communication among Civil Society representatives and other organizations, Parties to the Convention, media and the CBD Secretariat – to change and ultimately improve biodiversity-related policy at international, national and community levels.

Activities in support of this mandate have varied. The mainstay activities are

• facilitating organization for negotiations (working with community, Secretariat)
• producing ECOs at as many negotiations as possible
• facilitating self-selection processes for NGOs to distribute travel funds for Southern and Indigenous participants