6 May 2019: The seventh session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Plenary has adopted the Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and a Rolling Work Programme up to 2030.

The Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is the first intergovernmental assessment of the state of global biodiveristy and the first comprehensive assessment since the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005. It marks the culmination of the first work programme of the IPBES, which also included a series of regional assessments and an assessment on land degradation and restoration, released in 2018. An assessment on pollinators and an assessment on scenarios and models of biodiversity were also released during the first work programme, both issued in 2016.

IPBES 7 also adopted the Platform’s new Rolling Work Programme up to 2030, which lays out objectives and priority topics for the IPBES’s work in the coming decade. The objectives include: assessing knowledge; building capacity; strengthening the knowledge foundations; supporting policy; communicating and engaging; and improving the effectiveness of the Platform. Regarding the objective on “assessing knowledge,” the work programme identifies the following three priority topics: understanding the importance of biodiversity in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; understanding the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and determinants of transformative change and options for achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity; and measuring business impact and dependence on biodiversity’s and nature’s contributions to people.

IPBES 7 also adopted decisions on the Platform’s response to the external review of the Platform and the Platform’s budgetary and financial arrangements for the next biennium. Delegates further decided to hold IPBES 8 in Morocco in early 2021. [IISD RS Coverage of IPBES-7] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on the Global Assessment] [IPBES 7 Website] [IPBES Media Release Global Assessment]