Rationale: The existing and newly produced identification tools will assist Parties in the inventorying of biodiversity, early detection of invasive alien species, and the implementation of other programmes of the Convention which require taxonomic identification. It is important to develop international technical standards and protocols for the characterization, inventory and monitoring of biodiversity for domesticated genetic resources and production environments, as appropriate. This action is especially important at the infra-specific level of taxa for some organisms where there are different sub-species, varieties, strains and biotypes that may, for example, have different levels of invasiveness, impacts in different ecosystems, or different responses or reactions to biocontrol agents. Taxonomic tools would preferably be made open-access in accordance with international standards and licence agreements for the relevant technologies. This action addresses Aichi Biodiversity Targets 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16. This action contributes to achieving goals 3 and 4 of the GTI Capacity-building Strategy – generate, maintain and share taxonomic information.