IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body open to all member countries of the United Nations, and provides a mechanism recognized by both the scientific and policy communities to synthesize, review, assess and critically evaluate relevant information and knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystems services generated worldwide by governments, academia, scientific organizations, non-governmental organizations, and indigenous communities. The third meeting of the Platform’s Plenary (IPBES-3) was held from 12 to 17 January 2015 in Bonn, Germany.

Three members from the IPSI Secretariat participated in the plenary meeting and two days of stakeholder meetings held prior to it. Dr. Kazu Takemoto, Director of the IPSI Secretariat and its host organization UNU-IAS, made a presentation during the stakeholder meetings together with Dr. Suneetha Subramanian, who also serves as a member of the expert meeting on methodological assessments on diverse conceptualization of values of biodiversity and nature’s benefits. Dr. Kaoru Ichikawa, who serves as a member of the Task Force on Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) Systems, also participated in the meetings. They were pleased to see many familiar faces from IPSI member organizations, demonstrating IPSI’s wide reach in the world of international policy-making.

Major outcomes of this year’s meeting included the revision of the IPBES work programme and approval of regional scoping documents. The IPBES process is expected to be extremely important for providing scientific information relevant to concepts of the Satoyama Initiative and SEPLS conservation and promotion, and there should be many areas for IPSI members to contribute to IPBES processes, including in regional and thematic assessments and incorporation of ILK in IPBES’s work.

More information on IPBES and its events can be found here.