NEW GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY PANEL OFFERS GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY

I’ve just returned from the South Korean portal city of Busan where I participated in a week of intense negotiations that resulted in governments agreeing to establish a new mechanism to strengthen the dialogue between the scientific community and policymakers on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The new Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) aims  to be for biodiversity and ecosystems what the IPCC is for climate change, namely a leading body offering policy relevant and legitimate, scientifically credible information to inform decision-makers with options and scenario s on biodiversity and ecosystem services, around the world.

In my view BioFresh is optimally positioned to become a crucial scientific partner of this IPBES. This is because we share the goal of providing access to data, information, and our scientific tools may, in the end, contribute to the IPBES assessments. In addition, we may contribute to the capacity development component of IPBES.  No doubt there are other ways we could contribute to supporting the vision of IPBES and also take this opportunity to generate more visibility for freshwater biodiversity in international policy. Please contribute your ideas.

Hendrik Segers

For further information, see the IPBES website, the IISD website,  the IUCN press release and the  BBC news website.