ABSTRACT
The operation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) offers a good example of the potential and constraints of convention governance system (CGSs). States have even attempted to limit the Secretariat's modest attempts to use informal expert and liaison groups to advise it and help in drafting background documents. The alternative to building in-house expertise is to develop more proactive subsidiary scientific bodies serviced by the secretariat, that is, build the convention governance system, not the convention secretariat. A former president of the Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), Cristian Samper, saw it as "a bridge between the scientific community and the decision-maker". The System of Implementation Review (SIR) of the CBD has three basic elements: national reports, the Clearing-house Mechanism (CHM), and the development of a strategic plan, to which we should add a putative fourth, the creation of a subsidiary body.
