ECO 74(1) - Monday, 27 July 2026

Why we must not gamble away biodiversity on speculative and risky synthetic biology

Eva Sirinathsinghji, Third World Network -  The synthetic biology field is still largely confined to the research and development phase. It is not yet deployed at scale, particularly with regard to environmental release applications. Yet industry promises are increasingly broad-ranging and speculative: from widely debunked ‘de-extinction’ conservation projects, to ‘predictive’ targeting of self-limiting engineered insects to single neighbourhoods, hospitality venues or military installations, to ‘safely’ releasing living modified microbes despite the lack of any proven ability to control their capacity for survival, transboundary spread or evolutionary adaptation.

What the Monitoring Framework Still Can't See

Rainforest Action Network - As SBSTTA-28 considers both the Global Review of collective progress and the further development of the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), delegates face an important but easily overlooked question: What aspects of implementation are actually being made visible?

Hopes towards the global review

Friedrich Wulf, Pro Natura – Friends of the Earth Switzerland -  

The discussions at SBSTTA-26 and SBI-7 will set the stage for a very important COP. It could be – through the global report and the global review - the turning point for the implementation of the KMGBF.  The global report, based on numerous national reports, has clarified that the world is not on track to reach the targets – more and enhanced action is needed. According to the report, targets 14, 16, 19 and 22 are those with the lowest level of progress.