Stakeholders are highlighting their work, achievements, and initiatives supporting the processes of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and disseminating its findings. An e-poster session, held during the Stakeholder Days, prior to the eighth session of the IPBES Plenary (#IPBES8), serves as a platform for interested organizations to showcase their engagement.
The Stakeholder Days, taking place virtually, from 3-9 June 2021, provide stakeholders with a range of opportunities to exchange views on the agenda of the IPBES Plenary session from 14-24 June, discuss their IPBES-related initiatives, and get updates on IPBES processes.
Twenty-three e-posters have been submitted to the #IPBES8 Stakeholder Days virtual poster session. The presentations feature initiatives, projects, programmes, and publications that, among others, advance work on issue areas of relevance to the Platform’s work and promote linkages with IPBES assessments.
Regional and national efforts
Partners from Germany and Ecuador present a National Ecosystem Services Assessment and Mapping for the status and future development of ecosystem services and biodiversity in Ecuador (Ecu-MAES). The initiative aims to: analyze current and future capacities to provide ecosystem services and biodiversity in Ecuador under climate change and land-use change at the national and biome level; and build capacities of individuals and institutions to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
A poster on ‘Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services Valuation of the Tibetan Plateau of Ladakh Region’ by The Celestial Earth presents a study, which used the IPBES methodology and the nature’s contribution to people approach, including natural capital accounting and the principle of inclusive wealth, to capture the overall valuation of the ecosystem of the Indian Trans Himalayan area of Ladakh. The presentation highlights the link between biodiversity, ecosystems, and livelihoods.
The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) presents initiatives for biodiversity and ecosystems, including coastal forests and wetlands conservation, and highlights the importance of capacity building.
Other national and regional initiatives highlighted in the poster presentations include:
- Exploring desirable nature futures for National Park Hollandse Duinen, the Netherlands;
- Efforts by India Water Foundation to enhance public awareness about the SDGs and major components of the Paris Agreement on climate change in Asia-Pacific and in India;
- Principles of organization of ecological security in Azerbaijan;
- A study about the impact of political instability on sustainable rangeland management from the Borana Rangeland in Southern Ethiopia;
- Efforts by the West African Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (WABES) initiative to promote cooperation and exchange between West Africa and IPBES; and
- Wild plant species as allies against future challenges by the Plant Resources Center (PRC), Viet Nam.
Collaborative initiatives
The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) – a collaboration between the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – presents a poster on the theme, ‘Bringing Science, Policy and Practice Together for a Better Planet.’ BES-Net aims to co-generate evidence, build capacity, and design solutions for biodiversity action around the world. It helps countries implement actions on the findings of the IPBES assessments, supports IPBES national focal points in establishing science-policy-practice platforms and triangular networks around the IPBES themes, and brings farmers, indigenous peoples and local communities, and other practitioners closer to biodiversity decision making through triangular dialogue.
‘Diversity Components in Mosquito-borne Diseases in the Face of Climate Change’ is the theme of a poster by a group of German, Belgian, French, and Mexican universities about a project that will provide insights into the effects of biodiversity in the transmission of mosquito-borne zoonotic diseases and inform health, environmental, and development policy to prevent and mitigate outbreaks.
A poster by the Coalition for Conservation Genetics highlights the importance of genetic diversity for the resilience of ecosystems and their services. It notes unsustainable harvest, habitat decline, fragmentation, extreme climate events, and small populations among the causes for decreasing genetic diversity, and underscores the role of networks in helping stakeholders by translating knowledge, providing training, and building collaborations.
German partners from government and research institutions highlight a planned study on the effectiveness of science-policy interfaces (SPIs), such as IPBES, in generating tangible, multiscale outcomes for sustainable development. The research aims to develop a set of policy recommendations for SPI actors to manage tradeoffs between the SDGs and power relations. An unrelated poster by the Institute for Biodiversity (Germany) focuses on promoting SPIs and local biodiversity platforms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
SIDS in focus
A presentation by the Independent Evaluation Unit of the Green Climate Find (GCF) provides an independent evaluation of the relevance and effectiveness of the GCF’s investments in the small island developing States (SIDS). According to the poster, of 143 GCF projects, 29 (20%) include at least one SIDS, and of these 29 projects, 25 have only SIDS. It highlights that of total of USD 6.2 billion of the GCF investments, USD 818 million (13%) include a SIDS portion in multi-country projects.
A presentation by the Pacific Ridge to Reef programme – a Global Environment Facility (GEF) multi-focal area programme, which involves the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) as GEF implementing agencies – discusses testing spatial prioritization in tropical island settings.
Featured publications
A poster dedicated to UNEP’s synthesis report titled, ‘Making Peace with Nature: A Scientific Blueprint to Tackle the Climate, Biodiversity and Pollution Emergencies,’ highlights the risks that degradation of nature poses to sustainable development, the threats of pandemics, and actions for sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity among its main findings.
A presentation by the UN University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) outlines the linkages between the Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review – an annual research publication by the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative – and the Values Assessment, Transformative Change Assessment, and Nexus Assessment by IPBES.
Other poster presentations address:
- An “ecosystemic” approach for global change and development design by André Francisco Pilon, University of São Paulo and International Academy of Science, Health and Ecology;
- An eco-tech project named, ‘Globalymbe,’ to develop an automated pollinator identification and counting process for biodiversity monitoring;
- A digital tool for technical land management, ‘Santos Lab Environmental Platform’;
- A webinar on the theme, ‘Cultural Landscapes: Old and New Challenges for Sustainability,’ by the Open-ended Network of IBPES Stakeholders and Chuo University (Japan); and
- A statement by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) about why we must protect marine environments and improve ocean health.
The e-poster session can be accessed on the #IPBES8 website until 30 June 2021. [#IPBES8 Stakeholder Days] [IPBES8 Plenary] [ENB Coverage of Stakeholder Days and 8th Session of the IPBES Plenary]