December 2011: In a series of interviews, experts from international organizations, NGOs, academia and scientific bodies discuss the role of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and its benefits. The IPBES Secretariat recently released the interviews on its website.

Many experts recognized that IPBES will be the only global and authoritative mechanism that brings information together and synthesizes and analyses it for decision making in a range of policy fora, such as the global environmental conventions and development policy dialogues.

Julia Marton-Lefevre, Director-General, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), noted that establishing working rules for an international independent body with a broad mandate, such as that of the IPBES, is challenging, and that its efficiency and effectiveness will depend on its delivery of reliable reports and services.

Robert Watson, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), UK, suggested that the only way for IPBES to function effectively is if developing nations have ownership over any ecosystem assessments conducted in-country, and if these are conducted by scientists from that nation.

John Scanlon, Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), noted the importance of IPBES to the work of CITES, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources in Food and Agriculture (ITPGR), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the World Heritage Convention, as well as the potential contributions of the conventions to the work of IPBES. [IPBES Interviews]