An expert meeting was convened from 10-12 April 2018 in Cambridge, United Kingdom with the aim of supporting preparations for developing a post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The objective of the expert meeting was to enhance understanding of the need to base development of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework on available evidence. The expert meeting brought together invited experts from 25 countries, including a number of members of the Bureau of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Experts were deliberately chosen to cover a range of different backgrounds and experiences.

During preparation for the expert meeting five key questions were identified as being critical for development of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework: (a) what pathways will lead us to (or away from) the 2050 Vision already agreed by Parties; (b) what scale and possible mixes of policies will deliver these pathways; (c) which policy instruments and tools will be most effective in delivering these policies; (d) what sort of framework would motivate such policies and interventions being put in place; and (e) how can monitoring, indicators and reporting promote implementation and accountability?

This information document provides options for consideration by Parties and partner organizations for incr easing access to evidence that supports the development of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework. It draws on the very substantive discussions during the expert meeting, and on the background materials made available to participants in advance of the meeting as a basis for discussion (available at http://wcmc.io/5641). Prior to submission a draft of this information document was made available to all meeting participants for review.

The expert meeting was convened by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, which also provided financial support. Additional financial support was provided by UN Environment, the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Royal Soc iety for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and additional technical support by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and WWF UK. Preparation for the meeting was led by the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP - WCMC), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), BirdLife International, RSPB, and academics from the University of Cambridge.