Twenty-sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-26) and the fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-4) by Carol-Faye Bynoe-George

Twenty-sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-26) and the fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-4) by Carol-Faye Bynoe-George

 

The twenty-sixth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and the Fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Board on Implementation organized by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity were held in Nairobi, Kenya from 13th to 18th May and 21st to 29th May, respectively.

Antigua/Barbuda was represented by Mrs. Kishma Primus-Ormond/ Plant Protection Officer.  She is currently the co – chair for multidisciplinary Ad Hoc Technical Working Group on Synthetic Biology.

SBSTTA-26 considered the following agenda items:

  • Organizational matters: election of officers, adoption of the agenda and organization of work.
  • Monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
  • Scientific and technical needs to support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
  • Synthetic biology.
  • Risk assessment and risk management.
  • Detection and identification of living modified organisms.
  • Marine and coastal biodiversity:
    • Further work on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas;
    • Conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity.
  • Biodiversity and health.

SBI-4 considered the following agenda items: 

  • Review of implementation: progress in national target setting and the updating of national biodiversity strategies and action plans.
  • Mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and review.
  • Resource mobilization and financial mechanism:
    • Resource mobilization;
    • Financial mechanism.
  • Capacity-building and development, technical and scientific cooperation, clearing-house mechanism and knowledge management under the Convention and its Protocols:
    • Capacity-building and development, technical and scientific cooperation, clearing-house mechanism and knowledge management;
    • Capacity-building and development action plan for the Nagoya Protocol.
  • Communication.
  • Cooperation with other conventions and international organizations.
  • Review of the effectiveness of the processes under the Convention and its Protocols.
  • Assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Nagoya Protocol (Article 31).
  • Long-term strategic approach to mainstreaming.
  • Review of the programmes of work of the Convention.
  • Multi-year programme of work of the Conference of the Parties.
  • Administrative and budgetary matters.

According to Mrs. Primus-Ormond, the 26th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 26) started out a very slow pace. Negotiations went back and forth for quite some time. After much deliberations and in the spirit of compromise the conference went well and I would say successful although many of the documents still contain brackets (items where no agreement was met).

It concluded its deliberations, adopting recommendations to the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) on: risk assessment and risk management; synthetic biology; marine and coastal issues, including on further work on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) and on the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity; biodiversity and health; and the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

“Now we are preparing for a very heavy workplan for COP16 in October”, Mrs. Primus-Ormond said.

 

Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya