A/RES/54/221 Page 4 10. Encourages those States that have not yet ratified the Convention to do so as soon as possible; 11. Takes note of the meeting of the Panel of Experts on Access and Benefit-sharing, established in accordance with decision IV/8, adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its fourth meeting;4 12. Recognizes the importance of national action to conserve biological diversity in many habitats, including forests, wetlands and coastal areas, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, in particular article 8, and the need to mobilize national and international support for such national actions; 13. Welcomes the offer of Spain to host, at Seville in March 2000, the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Inter-sessional Working Group on article 8 (j) of the Convention regarding the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities, and encourages Governments to include representatives of indigenous and local communities on their delegations to that meeting; 14. Recognizes the utility of information exchange, and encourages the development of biodiversity information networks at the national, regional and international levels by way of the clearing-house mechanism; 15. Encourages the conferences of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 7 the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa, 8 to examine further appropriate opportunities and measures to strengthen their complementarities and improve scientific assessments of ecological linkages between the three conventions; 16. Encourages the secretariats of various environmental and environment-related conventions and other international organizations, with full respect for the status of the respective convention secretariats and the autonomous decision-making prerogatives of the conferences of the parties to the conventions concerned, to strengthen cooperation with a view to facilitating progress in their implementation at the international, regional and national levels; 17. Invites all funding institutions and bilateral and multilateral donors, as well as regional funding institutions and non-governmental organizations, to cooperate with the secretariat of the Convention in the implementation of the programme of work; 18. Calls upon States parties to the Convention to settle urgently any arrears and to pay their contributions in full and in a timely manner so as to ensure continuity in the cash flows required to finance the ongoing work of the Conference of the Parties, the subsidiary bodies and the Convention secretariat; 19. Invites the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity to report to the General Assembly on the ongoing work regarding the Convention; 7 A/AC.237/18 (Part II)/Add.1 and Corr.1, annex I. 8 A/49/84/Add.2, annex, appendix II. /...