GBIF Finland

From 27 to 29 February 2012, the Ministry of Environment of Japan will hold an Informal Pre-Plenary Scientific International Workshop on Assessment and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), co-organized with the United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) and United Nations University International Human Dimension Programme on Global Environmental Change (UNU-IHDP).

This workshop will help develop an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and bridge the gap between scientific dialogue and international policy.

For more information, please see this link.

In preparation for the second plenary meeting on IPBES, a regional capacity building workshop and consultative meeting for ECO country members, as well as Asia and the Pacific will be held from 10 to 12 March 2012 in Tehran, hosted by the Department of Environment of Islamic Republic of Iran in collaboration with the ECO Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ECO-IEST), with support from UNEP and financial support from the Government of Norway.

The objective of this regional gathering is to provide information on the IPBES process so far, present the agenda and documents for the second session of a plenary meeting and facilitate an exchange of views on these among governmental stakeholders.

For more information, please contact Mehrasa Mehrdadi.

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in co-operation with Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ organized an International expert workshop on "Policy support through relevant tools and methodologies" on December 7th - 9th in Bonn, Germany.

The outcomne of this meeting is available here.

The University of Copenhagen together with EPBRS (European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy) and the Danish Ministry of Environment organised two workshops preceding the formation of IPBES.

The first workshop, "EPBRS - The thematic content of the first IPBES work programme", took place on 16 – 18 January 2012 and the second workshop, "EU Expert meeting - Peer review procedures in IPBES and procedures for election of authors, editors and reviewers in IPBES" on 19 – 20 January 2012

Further information on these workshops here.

The University of Copenhagen together with EPBRS (European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy) and the Danish Ministry of Environment organised two workshops preceding the formation of IPBES.

The first workshop, "EPBRS - The thematic content of the first IPBES work programme", took place on 16 – 18 January 2012 and the second workshop, "EU Expert meeting - Peer review procedures in IPBES and procedures for election of authors, editors and reviewers in IPBES" on 19 – 20 January 2012

Further information on these workshops here.

USGS and ICSU (DIVERSITAS, IHDP) are co-organizing a workshop to be held from 31 January 2012 to 02 February 2012 in Annapolis, USA. This workshop will bring together an international group of scientific experts from multidisciplinary backgrounds to provide input to the IPBES second session on the possible work program focusing on the IPBES function "generation of knowledge" and relationship to the other IPBES components. The end goal is to provide a template that can be used to craft the initial work program for IPBES.

Further information can be found here.

USGS and ICSU (DIVERSITAS, IHDP) are co-organizing a workshop to be held from 31 January 2012 to 02 February 2012 in Annapolis, USA. This workshop will bring together an international group of scientific experts from multidisciplinary backgrounds to provide input to the IPBES second session on the possible work program focusing on the IPBES function "generation of knowledge" and relationship to the other IPBES components. The end goal is to provide a template that can be used to craft the initial work program for IPBES.

Further information can be found here.

Created and moderated by the IUCN Programme on IPBES, the Stakeholder Forum on IPBES is a new email discussion group for everyone interested in advancing the involvement of scientists, conservation organizations, businesses and other civil society actors in IPBES.

The Forum aims to help discovering the role that civil society can play in shaping IPBES and defining its goals.

For more information and registration, please consult the dedicated IUCN pages

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in co-operation with Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ organized an International expert workshop on "Policy support through relevant tools and methodologies" on December 7th - 9th in Bonn, Germany.

The outcome of  the workshop is now available here.

UNU-IHDP and UNU-ISP in collaboration with DIVERSITAS  have been commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan to undertake a survey reaching out to the research community to solicit their feedback in the nascent stages of the establishment of IPBES. The results of this survey will  inform the Second Session of the IPBES Plenary meeting to be held in April 2012.

To participate in this survey on the IPBES click on this link.

The invitation that was sent out is available here.

Comments and proposals that were submitted regarding the Rules of procedure and related procedures for IPBES and comments on the Review Draft Elements of the IPBES Work Programme can be downloaded from the Intersessional Process section.

Many thanks to all those who submitted these proposals which we will now take into the preparations for the 2nd session.