►The COP Resolution 12.5 (Manila, 2017) on National Reports, includes:  

2. Urges all Contracting Parties, in accordance with the provisions of Article VI of the Convention, to submit national reports to the Secretariat at least six months before each ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties; 

4. Calls upon the Parties to nominate focal points for correspondence, including national reporting, and to nominate contacts in other national authorities, as appropriate, for other issues;

5. Encourages national focal points and their Scientific Councillor counterparts to liaise on the preparation of national reports before they are submitted to the Secretariat through official channels;

 6. Directs the Secretariat to compile the information received from Parties in a database, to be updated intersessionally with any new information that may be made available by Parties;

7. Urges the Secretariat to identify, in cooperation with Parties, possible obstacles and/or constraints in preparing national reports;

 8. Recommends that the Secretariat develop mechanisms to support countries in submitting their national reports, including assistance for developing countries to help gather the required information;

 9. Instructs the Secretariat to perform an analysis of the reports received and to make the results available to the Parties, consistent with the rules for submission of documents to meetings of the Conference of the Parties so that the findings can help inform their activities and decision-making;

10. Further requests the Secretariat to advance harmonization of reporting with other international biodiversity agreements through the development of common reporting modules, via the framework of the Biodiversity Liaison Group and in consulting with UNEP-WCMC;