Highlights and images for 19 February 2026

“This has been a long week for all,” Chair Clarissa Souza Della Nina, Brazil, acknowledged at the closing of the afternoon plenary session, announcing an additional evening session. Creating the enabling conditions and institutional arrangements to catalyze action on the ground for global-level ambitions is no easy task.  

On the last day of the sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 6) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), delegates stayed busy both in plenary and in multiple informal consultations until midnight. Despite the long hours, due to difficulties in settling on common ground, several recommendations are forwarded to the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) with remaining brackets.  

In the morning, the SBI 6 plenary celebrated the swift approval of the recommendation on the midterm review of the Gender Plan of Action, recognizing its role as the primary instrument to support the gender-responsive implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).  

The recommendation on national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs), national targets, and national reporting was approved soon thereafter. The SBI urges Parties to submit their seventh national reports by the deadline of 28 February 2026. It acknowledges however, the technical and financial constraints that Parties face, and notes that information received after the deadline will still be made available for the global review of collective progress in GBF implementation at COP 17. 

The contact group on cooperation with other conventions and international organizations reportedly ran out of time, and the recommendation was approved with remaining brackets. COP 17 will be addressing a series of historically controversial matters, such as the relationship of the CBD with other processes, such as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, human rights bodies, and the recently established Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution.  

Similarly, deliberations on specialized international access and benefit-sharing (ABS) instruments did not reach a conclusive outcome. Despite several rounds of consultations, the recommendation forwarded to the Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol is mostly bracketed. This reflects Parties’ principled disagreement about the scope of the Protocol and its position vis-à-vis other ABS instruments, such as the pathogen ABS system to be created under the Pandemics Agreement of the World Health Organization. 

Outstanding issues remain on other recommendations, including on resource mobilization, the financial mechanism, and technical and scientific cooperation. Some of these items will be taken up again by SBI 7 before ultimate consideration at COP 17. 

Following adoption of the meeting report, Chair Souza Della Nina gaveled the meeting to a close at 11:55 pm.