The impacts of climate change on biodiversity are of major concern to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Conference of the Parties has highlighted the risks, in particular, to coral reefs and to forest ecosystems, and has drawn attention to the serious impacts of loss of biodiversity of these systems on people's livelihoods. More recently, the Conference of the Parties has also turned its attention to the potential impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems of the various options for mitigating or adapting to climate change and requested the Convention's Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) to develop scientific advice on these issues.SBSTTA established an ad hoc technical expert group to carry out an assessment of the inter-linkages between biodiversity and climate change. The results are contained in the present report, which draws upon best available scientific knowledge, including that provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.