Dear CETAF Members, Dear CETAF Colleagues,

As previously announced, the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) Forum took place from the 2^nd - 4^th December 2020, supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and hosted by the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. A total of 217 people registered for the Forum representing the Parties to the CBD, GTI National Focal Points, invited panel members and experts from across taxonomic and stakeholder communities. The presentations and recordings of the GTI Forum sessions are available via the GTI Forum webpage: https://www.cbd.int/article/the-global-taxonomy-initiative-forum-2020.

As an outcome of the Forum, a statement and "call for action" on behalf of the participants was drafted by GBIF, CETAF, the GTI Forum Chair and the group panel members, which was subsequently supported by the registered participants. The aim of this statement is to provide a tool for communication on the importance of taxonomy in underpinning the successful implementation of future CBD global initiatives on biodiversity, and thus in supporting an on-going political mechanism to ensure this via the renewal of the GTI under the new post-2020 CBD agenda, that is still to be officially approved.

We would like to encourage you to use this statement to contact your CBD focal points, GTI national focal points (https://www.cbd.int/countries/nfp/) and Government representative(s) who will have a voice in the ongoing CBD political processes as part of the preparations for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020). In addition to approaching your own government and authorities, it would further support the process within the CBD if you could share and support this statement also with colleagues and cooperation partners in other countries, especially outside Europe. Furthermore, the statement can also be used for your own communication purposes and disseminated to wider stakeholder communities, at all levels.

A more extensive presentation of the achievements and prospects of the GTI and outcome of the Forum is currently in preparation and will appear as a separate issue of the CBD Technical Series (No. 96). This Technical Series publication is mainly intended to inform discussions and negotiations at the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-3) and further CBD meetings in preparation for the upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP15), when they meet later in 2021. We will inform you as soon as this information document is available.

Cordially,
Michelle (as CETAF representative in the GTI) and Christoph (as Chair of the GTI Forum)

Michelle J. Price, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève, Switzerland
Christoph L. Häuser, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany

Prof. Michelle Price Head of Science Head Curator-Cryptogamy Tel. +41 22 418 5148 michelle.price@ville-ge.ch	Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève (CJB)   chemin de l'Impératrice 1 1292 Chambésy-GE Switzerland www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/
Notre environnement est fragile, merci de n'imprimer ce message qu'en cas de nécessité.

                                                        Vice-Chair of CETAF - www.CETAF.org