Road to COP16: Convention on Biological Diversity’s scientific body ends meet with recommendations on key issues

The 26th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-26) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) ended on May 18, with recommendations to fully implement The Biodiversity Plan adopted at Montreal in December 2022.

The recommendations, released after six days of discussions in Nairobi, would help monitor the progress of The Biodiversity Plan. They would be deliberated upon further at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP16). The conference will be held in the Colombian city of Cali from October 21-November 1, 2024.  

Seven issues were discussed at the meeting held in the Kenyan capital:

• Scientific and technical needs to support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
• Detection and identification of living modified organisms
• Risk assessment and risk management
• Synthetic biology
• Marine and coastal biodiversity: Ecologically or biologically significant marine areas and Conservation & sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity
• Biodiversity and health
• Monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

“This meeting showed the willingness of Parties to the CBD to reach consensus on the important scientific foundations of our work to achieve The Biodiversity Plan,” said David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the CBD. “The discussions have wide-reaching implications on biosafety, biotechnology, biodiversity in our oceans and new global work on health of people, plants and animals,” he added.

The meeting set the stage for a potential agreement on how the world defines — and consequently protects — ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSA). Decisions on EBSAs are important in context of the new agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction. The decision on this is likely to be reached at COP16.

Read Road to COP16: Two subsidiary bodies of Convention on Biological Diversity begin talks in Nairobi

At COP16, the Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health to finalise a universal approach to avoiding future pandemics and also regulate actions on pollution, species management, mainstreaming and access & benefit sharing will also be discussed.

Regarding agenda items related to biosafety and biotechnology, the Parties recommended new voluntary guidance on the risk assessment regarding engineered gene drives to strengthen transparency and scientific rigour in the process.

An expert group was created to inform on the risks of living, modified fish. Concerns were also flagged about GM insects and the need for vigilance in detecting and identifying living modified organisms was re-emphasised.

In the case of synthetic biology, where traits are deliberately introduced in the genetic material of organisms, Parties agreed on the need for capacity-building, technology transfer and knowledge-sharing to address the issue of equity in developing countries’ participation.

Parties also advanced the work on the monitoring framework which would be used to track national, regional and global progress against the targets for 2030.

On May 21, the delegates gathered at Nairobi will resume discussions under CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Implementation which will continue till May 29. They will focus on fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of Digital Sequence Information, issues related to biodiversity-related funding through multilateral mechanisms and a proposed new programme of work and institutional arrangements, including a suggested new CBD subsidiary body for Indigenous peoples and local communities. 

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