From 20 to 24 October 2025, the twenty-seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-27) of the UN CBD will bring together the 196 Parties to the Convention to make recommendations to the COP on scientific and technical issues. 

Alongside the conference, numerous side events will be held, as one of them will be co-hosted by CO-OP4CBD and Biodiversa+ on 24 October at 13:15 GMT-5. 

The joint side event is titled “Enhancing the role of knowledge holders in CBD: pioneering capacity-building initiatives across the world”, and it will showcase useful tools and methods for improving the integration of knowledge into the policymaking process, in the context of the UN CBD.

(Before the beginning, attendees can join the lunch organised by Biodiversa+ at 12:15 GMT-5.)

The side event starts at 13:15 GMT-5  with a brief introduction to the topic by Britta Garfield, Co-Chair of the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity (CSP).

After that, speakers from different organisations will present various capacity-building initiatives with talks about:

• Mobilising indigenous knowledge holders
• Perspective on knowledge mobilisation and capacity building from a developing country
• Capacity-building for environmental change, a transnational and transdisciplinary project approach
• Concrete tools to help the involvement of scientists and knowledge holders in IPBES and CBD processes

The program continues with a panel which will offer perspectives on the regional TSC centers from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.

The panel will be followed by an open discussion with the audience.

Finally, Charlotte Le Delliou (Biodiversa+) and Pierre Spielewoy (CO-OP4CBD) will close the discussion with remarks encouraging the organisations to fill the CBD knowledge gaps and improve the science/policy interface.

The event is supported by the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), IUCN Med, the Humboldt Institute, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, Marine Affairs and Fisheries of France (MTE), the European Commission Joint Research Center,  Belmont forum (BF), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), the ICCA Consortium, the Consortium of scientific partners on biodiversity (CSP), the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Armenia (ENV AM), the UNEP-WCMC, the RESPIN project, as well as the French National Museum of Natural History (MNHN).

Read more about the side event here.