Today, it is generally accepted that socioeconomic issues play a pivotal role in determining the success of efforts aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Yet there is still a great deal of incertitude as to how and to what extent these issues should be taken into account. In order to resolve this situation, it is necessary that the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agree on a suitable set of socioeconomic parameters and on how these should be monitored and evaluated. The report develops recommendations for socioeconomic monitoring in the framework of the ecosystem approach. It identifies ten topics as generic dimensions that are strongly anchored in processes and bodies of the United Nations. The observation of these generic dimensions should help to fulfil the CBD’s requirement that the socioeconomic situation should not be harmed by measures carried out within the context of the ecosystem approach. Moreover, specific (e.g. regional) assessment standards can be determined according to the different socioeconomic givens. With this in mind, it is recommended to add a second ‘layer’ of procedural rules that allow for the assessment, negotiation and priority-setting at the regional and local levels. These two elements should allow for an effective and efficient improvement of socio-economic monitoring for the purposes of the CBD.