On 24 September 2025, the European Subregional Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre (TSC) officially launched during an event at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Belgium. The event took place in conjunction with a three-day Regional Dialogue for the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) and for the 44 Parties covered by the TSC.

Organised by the European Commission, the European Environment Agency (EEA), IUCN Med and RBINS with the support of the Secretariat of the CBD (UN CBD) and the CO-OP4CBD project, the meeting served as a platform for sharing the capacity-building needs of the Parties and the different methods and best practices for the implementation and reporting of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM GBF).

The highlight of the event, the newly launched Centre, is part of the Technical and Scientific Cooperation Mechanism of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD). Its mission is to facilitate demand-driven technical and scientific cooperation as well as technology transfer among Parties. A feature of the European TSC is that it will incorporate a Knowledge Hub for each of the K-M GBF’s 23 targets. 

The dialogue itself focused on identifying challenges and determining requirements. The participants concluded that:

• Parties could already take note of their capacity needs as they carry out the 7th National Report, with a view to addressing these needs before the start of the 8th NR. 

• There is a need for more case studies, exchange of good practices, methods and tools for achieving the K-M GBF’s targets. The TSC must keep the exchange between Parties simple and easy, which makes a centralised platform for updates and communication crucial.

• Ways of integrating other stakeholders, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and overseas territories must be considered extensively.

More information on Technical and Scientific Cooperation in the context of the UN CBD can be found here.