Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) launched
UN establishes a biodiversity panel similar to IPCC for Climate Change
After several years of international negotiations, the final operational design of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was agreed in Panama last Friday April 20, 2012. Over 90 governments successfully established the science-policy interface for all countries. IPBES will produce Assessment Reports similar to the Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The core functions of IPBES will be:
- To identify and prioritise key scientific information needed for policymakers and to catalyse efforts to generate new knowledge;
- To perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services and their interlinkages;
- To support policy formulation and implementation by identifying policy-relevant tools and methodologies; and
- To prioritise key capacity-building needs to improve the science-policy interface, and to provide and call for financial and other support for the highest-priority needs related directly to its activities.
One of the key players over the last years to establish IPBES was the international research program on biodiversity (DIVERSITAS). The secretariat of IPBES will be hosted in Bonn, Germany.