Biodiversity implementation meeting ends without consensus on key issues
Agrifood systems highlighted as central to meeting global biodiversity targets
Only four parties submit national reports ahead of deadline
Unresolved text forwarded to COP17 in Yerevan
The sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 6) of the Convention on Biological Diversity concluded without decisions on several crucial issues, marking a critical staging post on the road to the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia.
Opening the meeting, SBI 6 Chair Clarissa Souza Della Nina of Brazil urged delegates to “forge common ground for the common good” and to find “solutions, not brackets”. However, this is not what happened. The four-day meeting, held at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, ended at 11:55 pm on February 19, 2026 without agreement on key matters. Numerous recommendations were forwarded to COP17 with bracketed text, signalling unresolved differences. These will now be taken up at the next SBI meeting scheduled for August.
On the sidelines, the FAO hosted a high-level roundtable on February 18 titled Agrifood systems taking action for nature. The event sought to highlight the growing role of agrifood systems in national biodiversity strategies and the increasing recognition that such systems are both affected by biodiversity loss and essential to delivering biodiversity solutions.
Delegates examined an analysis of national targets and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP) submitted by member countries. They reviewed how agrifood systems — including agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, along with their related value chains and actors — are reflected in policies and actions aimed at achieving national biodiversity targets.
Preliminary findings suggest that 35 per cent of all actions planned by countries to implement their biodiversity targets are directly related to agrifood systems, contributing collectively across all 23 targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. At the same time, 48 per cent of countries report in their NBSAPs that biodiversity loss is already affecting or threatening agrifood systems. Of the impacts reported, 33 per cent cite effects on yields and productivity, while others point to pressures linked to pests, invasive species and rural livelihoods. The full analysis is expected to be published in the lead-up to COP17.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said the roundtable reaffirmed agrifood systems as a strategic entry point for biodiversity conservation. Hambardzum Matevosyan, Armenia’s Minister of Environment, speaking as incoming President of COP17, underlined that biodiversity and food security are mutually reinforcing, noting that resilient agrifood systems depend on healthy ecosystems, genetic diversity and sustainable resource management.
With countries preparing their seventh national reports, organisers said they hoped the discussions would help shape thinking on the link between biodiversity and food.
The meeting made clear that substantial work remains ahead of COP17, scheduled for October. Many countries have yet to submit their NBSAPs. Despite the February 28, 2026 deadline for submitting national reports, only four parties — the European Union, Lesotho, Uganda and Switzerland — have done so.
These reports are central to compiling a global “report card” on whether the world is slowing biodiversity loss. Several parties said at the meeting that they would be unable to meet the deadline, meaning their submissions would not be included in the global synthesis and would instead feed only into the broader global review, which is due to be finalised at COP17.