Event: Annual Meeting of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples' Issues [viewed]
The 2012 annual meeting of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples' Issues will address, among other issues, the Group's responses to current and previous recommendations of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to the Group and the UN system; opportunities for inter-agency collaboration and possible strategic directions; and implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including through the UN Development Group and its guidelines on programming at the country level on indigenous issues.
18 June 2012: The first Global BioTrade Congress, organized by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), discussed the achievements and lessons learned of the BioTrade initiative, which aims at supporting biodiversity objectives while providing a source of income for local development.
June 2012: The third issue of "The Road to Rio+20: For a Development-led Economy" published by the UN Conference on Trade and Environment (UNCTAD) contains two articles on experiences with innovative approaches to biodiversity conservation in Latin America: the Yasuni-ITT Initiative in Ecuador; and the Mesoamerican Corridor in Mexico.
May 2012: The UN Conference on Trade and Sustainable Development (UNCTAD) has published a report on trade and biodiversity in Latin America, focusing on experiences under the UNCTAD BioTrade framework. BioTrade includes principles and criteria to promote trade and investment in biological resources to further sustainable development, in line with the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The paper makes recommendations for upscaling BioTrade in Latin America.
14 February 2011: The Global Organic Market Access Conference focused on challenges facing organic agriculture in emerging markets, noting the large impact that minor differences in organic standards can have on accessing markets. 
20 January 2012: The Oversight Committee for the Andean Community's (CAN) biodiversity program, BioCAN, approved a budget of €4 million for 18 pilot projects during the January 2012-June 2013 period. The approved projects are expected to contribute to the development of regional biodiversity products such as the Amazon Regional Information Platform (PIRAA), guidelines for land zoning and sustainable use of Amazonian biodiversity, and norms for wildlife management. 
16 January 2012: The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) has published a report titled "The Global Bioenergy Partnership Sustainability Indicators for Bioenergy," which represents the first global, government-level consensus on sustainability indicators for bioenergy. 
21 September 2011: A Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signed between the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and 27 international agencies, organizations and environmental conventions, aiming to achieve and implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
May 2011: The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has released the May issue of its newsletter, titled "GEO News" on new developments in the implementation of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which highlights advances in climate observation collaboration in the US and Europe.
