The Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, has gathered approximately 30 scientists, practitioners, and representatives of national and international institutions and civil society to discuss the needs and gaps of existing biodiversity scientific mechanisms and address new options.

The workshop on “International Science-Policy Interfaces for Biodiversity Governance: Needs, Challenges, Experiences,” which convened from 2-4 October 2006, sought to contribute to the ongoing consultative process regarding the proposal to create an International Mechanism on Expertise on Biodiversity (IMoSEB). The workshop was co-organized and funded by the European Commission (DG Research and DG Environment), the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (Institut de Sciencia/Tecnologia Ambientals), the German Agency for Nature Protection and the UFZ-Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig. Participants developed “The Leipzig Recommendations,” which highlight specific elements of such a mechanism with regard to its mandate, internal process, as well as its outputs and outcomes. Recommendations include calls for creating a “mechanism for dialogue and exchange among holders of diverse knowledge and knowledge systems (i.e., all forms of traditional and modern knowledge and science)” and for fostering “deeper understanding of the ways in which biodiversity loss and change transcend scales (spatial, temporal, etc.) and jurisdictional boundaries.”

Links to further information
Workshop press release, 11 October 2006
Workshop Recommendations
Workshop Participants