The Subsidiary Body and its terms of reference were established by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to replace the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on the Review of the Implementation of the Convention, whose terms of reference are contained in the annex to decision XII/26.

The first meeting of the SBI took place from 2 to 6 May 2016 in Montreal, Canada. The four main functions and areas of work of the SBI are as follows:

(a) review of progress in implementation;

(b) strategic actions to improve implementation;

(c) strengthen the means of implementation; and

(d) the functioning of the Convention and the Protocols.

The Bureau of the Conference of the Parties acts as the Bureau of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation. The Chair of the Subsidiary Body is elected by the Conference of the Parties to ensure active participation in the preparatory process and to facilitate meetings. The President is elected at an ordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties, takes office at the end of that meeting and remains in office until a successor takes office at the end of the next ordinary meeting. The Chair is invited to chair sessions of the Bureau on matters related to the Subsidiary Body. At the resumed second part of its fifteenth meeting, held in October 2023, the Conference of the Parties elected Chirra Achalender Reddy (India) as Chair of the Subsidiary Body until the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

SBI-4 will consider the following agenda items:

• Review of implementation: progress in setting national goals and updating national biodiversity strategies and action plans.
• Planning, monitoring, reporting, and review mechanisms.
• Resource mobilization and financial mechanism:
  • Mobilization of resources;
  • Financial mechanism.
• Capacity building and development, technical and scientific cooperation, clearing-house and knowledge management under the Convention and its protocols:
  • Capacity building and development, technical and scientific cooperation, clearing-house and knowledge management;
  • Action plan for capacity building and development of the Nagoya Protocol.
• Communication.
• Cooperation with other conventions and international organizations.
• Review of the effectiveness of processes under the Convention and its protocols.
• Assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Nagoya Protocol (Article 31).
• Long-term strategic approach to integration.
• Review of the work programmes of the Convention.
• Multi-year work programme of the Conference of the Parties.
• Administrative and budgetary matters.