Christine von Weizsäcker, Antje Lorch, Helena Paul and Ricarda Steinbrecher participated in the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP14), 9th Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and the 3rd Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits arising from their Utilization (MOP3) in Sharm El Sheik from 15 to 29 November.
Activities included regular updates to Ecoropa, editing and publication of the daily NGO newsletter ECO, meetings with the Executive Secretary of the CBD, European delegates, the Austrian EU Presidency, meetings and board meeting of the CBD Alliance, and participation and/or organisation of side events.

Side events and strategy meetings included:

• Strategy Meeting on Synthetic Biology, organized by ETC Group, Third World Network, African Centre for Biodiversity, Friends of the Earth
• CBD Alliance Strategy Meeting on the Post-2020 Agenda
• Gender and Biodiversity, organized by UN Women
• Better Evidence for Better Decisions, Policies and Action: Recent IPBES ASSESSMENTS, organized by the Secretariat of the IPBES
• What is on the horizon? Biodiversity and Gene Drives: Science, culture, ethics, socio-economics and governance. Organized by the Federation of German Scientists, chaired an introduced by Christine von Weizsäcker, main presentation by Ricarda Steinbrecher.
• Synthetic Biology and Gene Drives in Agriculture: Issues for the CBD, organized by La Via Campesina, ETC Group, Friends of the Earth International
• Informing Decision-making for a more Biodiverse Future: Next Steps for IPBES, organized by the Secretariat of the CBD
• Challenges to the Risk Assessment of LMOs derived from New Genetic Engineering Techniques, organized by ENSSER, main presentation by Ricarda Steinbrecher.
• Examples of Community Conservation, organized by Global Forest Coalition, ICCA Consortium
• Precautionary GMO Assessment includes Socio-economic Considerations, organized by ENSSER
• Effectively addressing Conflicts of Interest at the CBD and its Protocols, organized by Third World Network, with a presentation by Christine von Weizsäcker on “IPBES and its Conflict of Interest Policy”
• Biodiversity and Governance, organized by Canadian Universities
• Examples of Community Conserved Areas from all Continents, organized by IUCN and ICCA Consortium