As Vice-Minister on Training and Research of the Iranian Department of Environment (www.environment.ir), Dean of the College of Environment (www.coe.ac.ir) and Director General for Natural History Museums (mmtt.museum.com); he has a good understanding of implementation and policy issues. He also involved in many research and studies as well as several GEF projects.

Asghar Mohammadi FAZEL chairs the Subsidiary Body on Technical and Technological Advice of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (www.cbd.int).

He has worked in a range of national, regional and international Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), and is currently one of the Coordinating Lead Authors (CLA) of the Biodiversity chapter of the 4th Global Environment Outlook (www.unep.org/geo).

Asghar has a PhD in Environment with a focus on Strategic Planning as well as a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Conservation from Tehran University (www.ut.ac.ir).

This session will focus on global biodiversity issues, with a particular focus on synergy among Rio Conventions.