By Makeida Antonio
A local Marine Biologist, Ruleo Camacho recently represented the country at the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Talks were held at the World Conference Centre in Bonn, Germany from July 3-9.
IPBES is an intergovernmental organisation established to improve the interface between science and policy on issues of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The IPBES mission is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development, through the synthetization of and assessment of available policy-relevant knowledge regarding biodiversity and its contributions to human well-being in response to requests from governments and other stakeholders.
The work of IPBES can be characterised into four areas: Assessments, Policy Support, Building Capacity and Knowledge, Communications and Outreach. It was established in 2012, and is intended to serve a similar role as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
At this plenary, the primary Assessments being negotiated and finalised by the member states are: Sustainable Use of Wild Species Assessment #SustainableUse and Methodological assessment regarding the diverse conceptualization of multiple values of nature and its benefits, including biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services #ValuesAssessment.
Some previous assessments approved by IPBES include: Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019), Regional Assessments on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on the Americas (2018), Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment (2018), Scenarios and Models of Ecosystem and Biodiversity Services (2016) and Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production (2016).