Within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Clearing House Mechanism (CHM) is envisioned to promote and facilitate technical and scientific cooperation among Parties, other Governments and stakeholders; develop a global mechanism for exchanging and integrating information on biodiversity; and develop the necessary human and technological network. Parties to the Convention are to comply with this provision and should establish their national CHMs.

The ASEAN Clearing House Mechanism (ASEAN CHM) for biodiversity information aims to facilitate consolidation, access, analysis and promotion of regional biodiversity information, awareness of issues and initiatives of the ASEAN Member States (AMS). It is envisioned to organize and harmonize the information that is publicly available in the CHMs of the AMS and provide the regional overview and state of biodiversity. It contains the following features:

1. Links to the national CHM sites of AMS;
2. Relevant publications and technical reports;
3. Links to other relevant sites and databases like Biodiversity Information Sharing Service (BISS) and Friends of Biodiversity (FOB);
4. Online training modules and downloadable training manuals on CHM establishment and maintence, content uploading and mapping; 
5. Interfaces for species and protected area database encoding; and
6. Knowledge management products.

The ASEAN CHM forms a key component of the digital knowledge management initiative of ACB and provides the primary access and single portal to all AMS biodiversity information resources and applications.

The ASEAN CHM is a platform where relevant partners are encouraged to share biodiversity knowledge to facilitate cooperation on science and innovation as well as the transfer of technology.

The ASEAN CHM will fully support the Convention's thematic and cross-cutting programmes of work by promoting cooperation, supporting exchange of information, and developing a regional network of partners on biodiversity.