The main objectives of this add-on request is to assist the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in completing its comprehensive capacity building needs assessment for country specific priorities, undertaking consultations for the second national report to the COP, establishing a CHM and implementing a country-driven Biodiversity Clearing House Mechanism project.

The objectives of this project are: A.Identify the needs for capacity-building in the area of taxonomy; B.Define the needs for capacity-building for the conservation of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of the local communities; C.Identify the needs for capacity-building for the implementation of general measures for in-situ and ex-situ conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. D.A country driven Clearing House Mechanism project

The project is being implemented as an interim capacity-building activity between the Initial and the Second Communications. Hence it is intended to complement activities of the Phase 1 project, related to the Initial Communication, while at the same time forming basis for initiation of the Second National Communication to the UNFCCC.

Within the overall objective of the Stockholm Convention, which is to protect human health and the environment from POPs, the project will: i. Prepare the ground for implementation of the Convention in Benin; ii. Assist Benin in meeting its reporting and other obligations under the Convention; iii. Strengthen Benin’s national capacity to manage POPs and chemicals generally.

Within the overall objective of the Stockholm POPs Convention, which is to protect human health and the environment from POPs, the project will: i) Strengthen Senegal’s national capacity to implement the Stockholm Convention; ii) Strengthen the national capacity to sound management of POPs and chemicals generally; iii) Formulate a National Implementation Plan for meeting obligations under the Convention as well as action plans for the sound management of specific POPs.

The objective of the National Capacity Needs Self-Assessment (NCSA) is to identify country level priorities and needs for capacity building to address global environmental issues, in particular biological diversity, climate change, and land degradation, and the synergies between them, with the aim of catalysing domestic and/or externally assisted action to meet those needs in a coordinated and planned manner.

Within the overall objective of the Stockholm Convention, which is to protect human health and the environment from POPs, the objectives of the project are to (i) prepare the ground for implementation of the Convention in Mauritius; (ii) assist Mauritius in meeting its reporting and other obligations under the Convention; (iii) strengthen Mauritius’s national capacity to manage POPs and chemicals generally as articulated in Chapter 19 of Agenda 21 and (iv) enable Mauritius to make an informed decision on the ratification of the Stockholm Convention.