Highlights and images for 10 August 2026

Finance and funding arrangements have once again emerged as a fault line at the seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 7), exposing unresolved questions over the provisions of resources for implementations of the goals and targets of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). 

This divide resurfaced during consideration of the second assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Nagoya Protocol, and in discussions on the clearing-house mechanism (CHM) and knowledge management strategy. After decades of debate on this issue, finding an answer to overcoming this perennial challenge is essential for translation of the ambitions of the GBF into implementation.

Plenary discussions in the morning focused on conference room papers (CRPs) on Synthetic Biology, issues related to the Nagoya Protocol, and the CHM and knowledge management. 

Delegates also approved the final decision on the Fifth Assessment and Review of the Effectiveness of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and Midterm Evaluation of the Implementation of the Capacity-building Action Plan for the Protocol, with brackets remaining around outstanding elements.

Synthetic Biology 

Delegates approved the draft recommendation outlining the synthetic biology thematic action plan to support capacity-building and development, access to and transfer of technology and knowledge‑sharing, which contains a few unresolved issues to be negotiated at seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) in Yerevan, Armenia, later this year. 

Nagoya Protocol 

Delegates continued consideration of the draft recommendations on the second assessment and review of effectiveness of the Nagoya Protocol. Discussions addressed access and user measures and guidance through the Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) Clearing-House, simplified procedures for non-commercial research, and compliance procedures and mechanisms. 

They also addressed the operationalization of the global multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism, and the Cali Fund, with some cautioning against prejudicing discussions at COP 17 on this issue. Delegates also discussed safeguards in development of community protocols for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and Indigenous and local knowledge inclusion in the ABS Clearing-House. 

CHM and Knowledge Management 

Delegates opened discussions on the CRP on the CHM and knowledge management. They addressed now-familiar concerns on the sources of financial resources for implementing the programme of work of the CHM and the knowledge management strategy. They also considered, among others, text related to the information to be submitted in Parties’ eighth national reports, related to the implementation of the CHM’s programme of work. Discussions on this CRP will resume on Wednesday.

Friends of the Co-Chairs groups on Resource Mobilization, Digital Sequence Information (DSI), and the Global Review of Collective Progress in GBF Implementation also met at various points of the busy day.  

Contact groups convened in parallel through the afternoon and late into the night to advance work on: 

• Resource Mobilization; 
• DSI; and 
• Financial Mechanism.