A/RES/61/203 Deeply concerned by the social, economic, environmental and cultural implications of the loss of biodiversity, including negative impacts on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and stressing the necessity to adopt concrete measures in order to reverse it, Taking note of the reports of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 6 Conscious of the need for effective education to raise public awareness for achieving the threefold objective of the Convention and the 2010 biodiversity target, 1. Declares 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity; 2. Designates the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity as the focal point for the International Year of Biodiversity, and invites the secretariat to cooperate with other relevant United Nations bodies, multilateral environmental agreements, international organizations and other stakeholders, with a view to bringing greater international attention to bear on the issue of the continued loss of biodiversity; Invites Member States to consider establishing national committees for 3. the International Year of Biodiversity; 4. Encourages Member States and other stakeholders to take advantage of the International Year of Biodiversity to increase awareness of the importance of biodiversity by promoting actions at the local, regional and international levels; Invites Member States and relevant international organizations to support 5. the activities to be organized by developing countries, especially least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition; Invites relevant international organizations as well as relevant global and 6. regional environmental conventions to communicate to the focal point for the International Year of Biodiversity efforts made towards the successful implementation of the objective of the Year; Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its 7. sixty-sixth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution. 83rd plenary meeting 20 December 2006 _______________ 6 2 Available from http://millenniumassessment.org.