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 were: the Geneva Museum of Natural History, the Mexican Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad de México) which became a signatory to the MOU in Geneva on 13 September 2006, and the Museums Nature Montréal which became a member on 22 February 2007. The Higashiyama Botanical Gardens joined on 16 June 2008, and during the tenth meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP10) held in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, The Missouri Botanical Garden, The Joint Nature Conservation Committee of the UK and The National Institute of Biological Resources of Korea joined the Consortium. The Natural History Museum of the UK, signed the Memorandum of Understanding in December of 2010 and the latest member of the Consortium, the South African National Biodiversity Institute, signed the MOU in the last meeting of the Consortium held in Incheon City, Korea this past May 20th, 2011. SANBI is the first African partner to join the Convention's Consortium of Scientific Partners.
The Scientific Consortium will be central to the successful implementation of the new Aichi Biodiversity Targets and in building the capacity of developing countries and promoting a forum of exchange of experience between its members.
Member Institutions of the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity
Reports of the Meetings of the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity
Special Meeting of the Consortium of Scientific Partners - Songdo Convensia, Incheon City, Korea, 20 May 2011 
PDF version
Informal Meeting of the Consortium of Scientific and Other Partners - Special meeting during the Tenth Conference of the Parties, 24 October 2010, Nagoya, Japan PDF version
Informal meeting for the IYB: 20 January 2010, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France PDF version 
Word version
Second meeting: 17 October 2007 PDF version Word version
First meeting: 8-9 September 2006 PDF version Word version
The Buffon Declaration: concluding message from the Buffon Symposium, 18-19 October 2007, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris English Spanish Français
Training Seminars Organized by the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity
Training Seminar of the Consortium of Scientific Partners at the margins of WG8j-7 & SBSTTA-15, 5 November 2011 Report of the Seminar
Training Seminar at the Margins of the Fourteenth Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-14), 10-21 May 2010, Nairobi, Kenya
This training seminar was organised by the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity to provide participants with tools and advice on ways to use information from the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) to inform decision-makers and public actors about the importance of biodiversity for human well-being.
Presentations:
Introductory Presentation - Aim of the Seminar Presentation on GBO-3 by the Secretariat of the CBD Presentation by the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de France Presentation by CONABIO, Mexico Presentation by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
