Highlights and images for 17 February 2026

Moving from ambitious target-setting to meaningful implementation is no easy task. Delegates at the sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 6) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) addressed a series of key challenges aiming to bridge the gap between policy commitments and action on the ground. 

Deliberations on capacity-building and technical and scientific cooperation highlighted the complexities of ensuring institutional and environmental sustainability amidst limited and unreliable financial flows. Many pointed to the needs assessments conducted by the regional and subregional technical and scientific cooperation support centers, established to assist with the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). They noted the centers are crucial in promoting implementation, including through South-South and triangular cooperation, but require adequate and predictable funding. 

Cooperation with other conventions and international organizations is critical to ensure coherent action across sectors and processes, increase impact, and reduce duplication of work and reporting burdens. However, establishing concrete mechanisms for cooperation while respecting each convention’s mandate and Party membership remains a challenge. At the same time, some urged for mechanisms that meaningfully include stakeholders, primarily the communities most affected by the triple planetary crisis.  

With the international access and benefit-sharing (ABS) landscape becoming increasingly complex, difficult deliberations continued on the long-standing item of specialized international ABS instruments under the Nagoya Protocol. Views continued to diverge on the process and criteria for identifying such instruments, including a potential role for the Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol in their identification.  

Plenary further addressed options for improving the effectiveness of meetings under the Convention and its Protocols. While some supported the pilot modalities for the early submission of statements as a means to promote efficiency and save time for text-based negotiations, others noted that the lack of translation for such statements undermines full and inclusive participation. Developing countries also called for strengthened logistical and financial support, including funding for more than one participant per delegation, and highlighted needs for trainings and regional consultations prior to meetings to improve planning and engagement. 

Discussions also turned to the report of the external in-depth functional review of the Secretariat, with Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker presenting the Secretariat’s reflections on the report’s recommendations, and outlining the budget-neutral actions that have begun to be implemented in response. Parties welcomed the finding that the Secretariat had maintained a strong record of delivering on obligations despite significant operational and resource constraints, and emphasized that restructuring needs to achieve balance between functions of conference servicing and, crucially for many developing countries, providing substantive implementation support.

In the afternoon, plenary initiated text-based negotiations on a conference room paper containing a draft recommendation on national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and national reports. Delegates highlighted technical and financial constraints to the submission of their seventh national reports by the 28 February 2026 deadline, further pointing to the delayed disbursement of relevant funding. The Secretariat clarified that information received after the deadline cannot be included in the global report but will still be made available for the global review of collective progress at COP 17. 

Two contact groups met in the evening to continue discussions on cooperation with other conventions and international organizations, and specialized international ABS instruments under the Nagoya Protocol.