The Cook Islands recognizes that effective implementation of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), require resources mobilised and financial mechanisms strengthened. Member states like the Cook Islands that are party to the CBD Convention, make every effort to achieve measurable results through strong coherence, coordination, and collaboration. For Pacific Island countries, biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation are deeply interconnected challenges that require integrated actions.
The CBD organised a workshop on Resource Mobilisation and the 6th meeting of the Subsidiary Body of Implementation. National Environment Service Director, Halatoa Fua, attended both meetings in Rome, from 10th to 19th February 2026.
The Resource Mobilisation workshop was focused on ways that make biodiversity more visible in our everyday lives. Members states, together with the assistance of the CBD Convention, can achieve this through two key areas: mobilise resources and strengthen financial mechanisms. Examples of mobilising resources include integrating biodiversity funding into national budgets, stronger engagement with key stakeholders such as indigenous peoples and local communities, building local capacity, and the costing of the National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan (NBSAP) to have a clear plan of how biodiversity will be funded by member states.
The workshop reported successful stories of how countries have strengthened financial mechanisms on biodiversity. São Tomé and PrÃncipe started charging natural park entry fees, Colombia introduced carbon taxes and auctioned permits earmarked for biodiversity, and Costa Rica pioneered the Marine Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), which is an initiative that rewards local communities for protecting biodiversity, reforestation and avoiding harmful activities in mangroves.
The Subsidiary Body of Implementation (SBI) meeting is established to strengthen all means of implementation, including financial resources, technical support, and capacity building activities. It prepares member states for the main CBD Convention of the Parties meeting, which will take place in Armenia in October 2026. In this 6th SBI meeting, nine papers were negotiated by the member states to be tabled at the main Convention of the Parties meeting. Some of the key papers were focused on resource mobilisation, capacity building, cooperation with other conventions, and options for further improving of the effectiveness of the CBD COP and its Protocols.
Halatoa Fua, NES Director, stated ‘the Cook Islands made many interventions to ensure the special circumstances of Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are taken into account, when it comes to finance, resources and capacity building. The finance available to SIDS need to be adequate, accessible, and simplified to meet small administrations with limited capacity’.
