This document constitutes the 'final' opinion of the Specialized Biodiversity Study (ESBIO) which relates to the strategic management of biodiversity and the threats concerning it. It updates the preliminary opinion submitted to the PAS in January 2000. Under the supervision of Dr. Eddie Allison (ESBIO coordinator), a regional working group met in Kigoma in February 2000 to complete the final analysis of the ESBIO data. Table 1 shows the list of participants.