The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS) would like to draw attention to three calls from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) for:

-       comments on the draft next work programme of IPBES -  deadline 2 January 2019, as announced in IPBES Notification EM/2018/26 ;

-       nominations of experts for the assessment of invasive alien species. Nominees should fill out their application form by 11 January 2019 and Nominators should approve and submit applications by 1 February 2019; as announced in IPBES Notification EM/2018/22 ;

-       participation in a web conference whose objective is to review and further explore knowledge gaps and discuss knowledge needs and priorities regarding land degradation and restoration, to take place from 14 January to 4 February 2019; as announced in IPBES NotificationEM/2018/28.

The IPBES also announces the availability of a primer of the Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in all six UN languages, accessible here.

Further details of these calls can be found on the IPBES website.

Considering the relevance of IPBES work to the Convention, the Secretariat would like to encourage CMS Parties, partner organizations and experts to engage in these processes.