{"id":5667,"date":"2026-08-05T13:11:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powershiftafrica.org\/in-the-news\/inside-africa-agitation-at-nairobi-biodiversity-conference-mky"},"modified":"2026-10-28T09:26:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T09:26:51","slug":"inside-africa-agitation-at-nairobi-biodiversity-conference-mky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/in-the-news\/inside-africa-agitation-at-nairobi-biodiversity-conference-mky\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa\u2019s agitation at Nairobi Biodiversity Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"
Delegates attending the UN Conference on Biodiversity and Desertification (UNCBD) that is currently under way in Nairobi, Kenya. | PSA Media<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY MARY KYANYI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the ongoing conference on biodiversity in Nairobi, Kenya, the continent has an opportunity to leverage Africa-led local actions to ensure the implementation of global targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, this\u00a0key moment offers a rare chance to\u00a0ensure marginalised communities receive funding to support conservation efforts at the local, national and regional levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, that hasn\u2019t been the case after discussions hit a snag last week, setting\u00a0the Parties up for\u00a0a bruising battle as the talks entered the second and final week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosting SBSTTA 28 and SBI 7 in Africa isn\u2019t just an acknowledgement of the role of Africa in\u00a0biodiversity protection. It\u2019s also an opportunity for the continent to accelerate actions that promote the protection of critically endangered species and their habitats, as well as the restoration of degraded ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the discussions, developed and developing country Parties clashed over all the items, with Sustainable Wildlife Management the only item adopted without divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many claimed that important elements were omitted\u00a0from\u00a0contact group discussions due to limited time. This included not integrating capacity building, scientific and technology transfer, as well as inclusion\u00a0of a whole-of-society approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This led to sidelining not only of recommendations from women, youth and IPLCs but also the representation of gender responsive metrics in the text. Delegates, however, expressed hope\u00a0that there would be\u00a0time to further negotiate them at COP17 before the final\u00a0decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About UNCBD: SBSTTA & SBI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has two Subsidiary Bodies: the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the one hand, the SBSTTA is\u00a0the scientific body that addresses science and data and provides technical and scientific recommendations bridging the gap between policy and science. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the SBI\u2019s co-mandate is to provide implementation through financial mechanisms and policy review. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CBD\u2019s supreme decision-making body is the Conference of the Parties (COP), which meets every 2 years to discuss and evaluate ecological processes and adopt policy decisions that are consensus-based. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CBD SBSTTA and SBI bodies meet once or twice every two years ahead of the CBD COP. This is to measure scientific and implementation of ecological progress, negotiate, and prepare for the CBD COP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the 30 by 30 targets (targets 2 and 3 of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF)) being off track, there\u00a0was a lack\u00a0of consensus on matters relating to capacity building, inclusion, finance and technology transfer for implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Under Programme Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA), countries clashed again over the definition of Protected Areas and Conserved Areas as of Indigenous Traditional Territories (ITTs). Globally, countries have different legal frameworks on land and ownership. This creates difficulty in reporting progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As SB7 progresses this week, nations must seek\u00a0consensus on ways to provide the Means of Implementation to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and achieve the 2030 targets. Only then can we guarantee\u00a0living in harmony with nature\u00a0by midcentury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Global Review on Collective Progress achieved minimal progress during the SBSTTA 28 contact groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though science\u00a0was key\u00a0in this review, the final document ended up\u00a0with multiple\u00a0brackets.\u00a0This is partly because of the gap between science and policy, where implementation realities face economic challenges,\u00a0leading to a lack of technical tools to measure\u00a0metrics across KMGBF targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the Review on Collective progress concluded with a weak text on the inclusion of women, youth, Indigenous People and Local Communities as crucial stakeholders in making implementation of the KMGBF a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the decisions Parties must make at\u00a0SBI 7 is to operationalize and actualize target 22 of the KMGBF on ensuring inclusive participation in decision-making, access to justice, and rights-based approaches to conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So far, the omission of non-state actors during the contact groups sessions has stood out. Attempts by non-state actors to push for inclusion through Party delegates at the closing plenary failed in what was described as attempts to reopen\u00a0the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a\u00a0worrisome trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What CBD\u00a0SBI-7 Must Deliver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve\u00a02030 and 2050 goals on biodiversity, SBI must lift the bracketed text on \u2018\u2018Whole of Society\u2019\u2019 approach and instead uphold the rights-based approach. This is necessary to guarantee\u00a0the future of biodiversity and ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this conference, delegates must answer the question of who makes the rules and who does the work. The two aren\u2019t mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature, future generations and the work that is yet to be done heavily depend on answers to these questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next few days, all eyes will be on the conference to see if it lives up to its billing. The world\u2019s biodiversity depends on the decisions taken by delegates in Gigiri, Nairobi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marry Kyanyi is an Adaptation and Resilience Fellow at Power Shift Africa<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the decisions Parties attending SBI 7 must make is to operationalise and actualise target 22 of the KMGBF on ensuring inclusive participation in decision-making, access to justice, and rights-based approaches to conservation.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":5668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[28,27],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-5667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","tag-adaptation","tag-climate-justice"],"acf":{"url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5667"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9508,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5667\/revisions\/9508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5667"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=5667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}