Bonn 9 July 2014 - The family of United Nations agencies in Bonn has grown with the addition yesterday of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).  IPBES is the interface between the scientific community and policy makers and is of particular relevance to CMS.  Professor Alfred Oteng-Yeboah of Ghana is the current chair of the CMS Standing Committee and the COP-appointed Councillor for African Fauna is a member of the IPBES Bureau.

After years of international negotiations, IPBES was established in Panama Cityin April 2012. It now counts 118 Member States and it is open to all member countries of the UN. The second session of the Plenary of IPBES, held in Turkey in December 2013, adopted a collaborative partnership arrangement with the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme.

Of interest to CMS in the initial IPBES programme of work is a “fast track thematic assessment” of pollinators, pollination and food production.  Invasive alien species and their control and conceptualization of values of biodiversity and nature’s benefits to people including ecosystem services will also be subject of assessments.