Highlights and images for 28 November 2025

With the end of the meeting rapidly approaching, delegates worked hard to clean draft resolutions for adoption. In the meantime, with no report coming out of the closed-door consultations, observers wondered on the state of negotiations on the enhancement of the Multilateral System (MLS). “There will be no outcome,” some predicted, noting that positions on benefit-sharing from digital sequence information / genetic sequence data (DSI/GSD) are impossible to bridge; others pointed to small interregional groups working on the payment structure and rates, highlighting a real possibility for a limited but effective reform.

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

Much remains to be done. The Governing Body (GB) has one more day to reach agreement on a series of draft resolutions, including on farmers’ rights, conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), and the budget. Delegates are also expected to agree on the items related to the enhancement of the MLS, including a revised standard material transfer agreement (SMTA), a draft resolution, and possibly a Treaty amendment.

In plenary, text-based negotiations ensued throughout the day and in the evening. Delegates engaged in the review of draft resolutions on the Treaty’s capacity-development strategy and action plan, cooperation with other international instruments and processes, the Global Information System (GLIS), and the Funding Strategy, among other items.

Deliberations on farmers’ rights continued in a contact group and in various informal settings. Debates on the implementation and operations of the MLS highlighted the need for transparency and traceability of PGRFA accessions shared under the SMTA. Discussions on the implementation of the Funding Strategy addressed a tentative target range for the Benefit-sharing Fund. Two proposals were kept in brackets: a target range of USD 6-8 million proposed by GB 11 Chair Alwin Kopše (Switzerland) to assist with deliberations; and an alternative one of USD 8-12 million proposed by Brazil.

Well-known divergences emerged, as delegates addressed topics that are divisive across processes, such as the terminology regarding Indigenous Peoples and local communities, but also issues that have been deemed controversial recently, including references to the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, and gender.