In June 2010, a conference co-organized by UNESCO and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity pressed for biological and cultural diversity to be genuinely integrated into development cooperation strategies and programmes. The Conference resulted in the 2010 Declaration on Bio-Cultural Diversity and the draft Joint Programme between UNESCO and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) containing a number of proposed actions.

The draft programme was acknowledged by the World Heritage Committee at its last meeting in Brasilia in July 2010 and welcomed by the 10th meeting of the Parties to the CBD (CBD COP 10) held in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan (Decision X/20). COP 10 recognized the Joint Programme as a ‘useful co-ordination mechanism to advance the implementation of the Convention and deepen global awareness of the interlinkages between cultural and biological diversity’.

State Parties and other relevant stakeholders were invited to ‘contribute to and support the implementation of this joint programme’.