Biodiversity Convention Office
Canada's Biodiversity Convention Office (BCO)  serves as National Focal Point for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy. BCO also provides a leadership role in the Biodiversity Conservation Working Group of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and in the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group of the Arctic Council. The BCO was established by Environment Canada in September 1991 to coordinate Canadian involvement in the negotiations of the Convention. Following Canada's ratification of the Convention in December 1992, attention shifted to development of a Canadian response. Under the guidance of the BCO, a Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group was charged by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment with developing the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy.