Highlights and images for 28 March 2022

Monday was devoted to the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI), which met in three plenary sessions throughout the day and into the evening, clearing its agenda and concluding its deliberations.

To dive deeper, read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

A major highlight came in early hours on Monday, long before SBI started its deliberations. Contact Group 5 of the Working Group on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (WG2020) on digital sequence information (DSI) convened after 3:00 am, following a marathon meeting of the Friends of the Co-Leads Group. Consensus was reached on the way forward on DSI, one of the most controversial items in the agendas of all three bodies meeting at the Geneva Biodiversity Conference. The text agreed in the Contact Group, inter alia, recognizes a list of central elements that should be included in a solution for fair and equitable benefit-sharing on DSI on genetic resources, and paves the way for assessing potential policy options.

SBI convened for more than 10 hours and Chair Charlotta Sörqvist gaveled a total of 20 L documents, including: SBI decisions; recommendations to the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15); recommendations to the COPs serving as the meetings of the Parties (COP/MOPs) of the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols; and the meeting’s report.

SBI adopted recommendations on, among others:

• resource mobilization and the financial mechanism;
• mechanisms for reporting, assessment, and review of implementation;
• items under the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF), including the gender plan of action and the framework for a communications strategy;
• capacity building, technical and scientific cooperation, technology transfer, knowledge management, and communication;
• review of progress in the implementation of the Convention;
• cooperation with other conventions, international organizations, and initiatives;
• biodiversity mainstreaming; and
• review of the effectiveness of the processes under the Convention and its protocols.

CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Mrema remarked that SBI had taken on a “challenging agenda,” but had nevertheless made significant progress on work. She thanked all involved, including technical and venue support staff, for their “tireless efforts.” She reminded delegates that “the world will accept nothing less than a clear, ambitious, and transformative framework on biodiversity,” but expressed great hope, as all involved had risen above the difficult circumstances despite differing views.

SBI Chair Sörqvist thanked delegates for their work, which would ensure that the work of the CBD “will be turned into action on the ground.” Thanking the COP presidency and Bureau, the CBD team, interpreters, and technical support staff, she underlined that it had been “an honor” to serve as SBI Chair in the past two years, and wished all good luck at COP-15. She closed the meeting at 10:02 pm.

Two side events took place at lunchtime, focusing on:

• rewarding conservation efficiency at marine protected areas with outcome-based funding instruments; and
• a Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) proposal for a set of indicators to measure, report and recognize the contributions of youth to the GBF: making the invisible visible.