In early July, representatives and experts from European and Central Asian countries gathered for PESC-7 in Kastamonu, Turkey, to focus on sharing experiences and best practices regarding their countries’ engagement with IPBES. More than 60 people representing 20 different nationalities participated in the three-day meeting, which featured both inspiring conversations and discussions on topics such as the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the biodiversity crisis.
The PESC-7 meeting is the latest in an ongoing series of meetings since 2013 involving European and Central Asian IPBES member countries. PESC stands for Pan-European Stakeholder Consultation and refers to meetings aimed at engaging stakeholders across national borders in activities related to IPBES. The meetings are organized by the ECA Network—a European and Central Asian network established in 2015 that consists of a number of institutions and science policy platforms, including IPBES in Denmark.
Read more about the CFSP meetings here
While the majority of the countries represented were returning participants from previous PESC meetings, a few countries, such as North Macedonia, were new members of the network. The meeting provided a framework for welcoming new countries into the IPBES family and for fostering the exchange and adoption of experiences across national borders. In addition, the meeting served as preparation for the upcoming IPBES plenary session, IPBES10, to be held in Bonn in August.
Sharing Experiences on the Agenda
The program was diverse and included presentations on the activities of individual countries, including how the French biodiversity platform FRB develops fact sheets on the main conclusions of the global IPBES reports, targeting decision-makers, while in Switzerland, they produce fact sheets on the potential of specific sectors to reduce their negative impact on biodiversity.
As a representative of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Duygu Dönertas reviewed how the main conclusions of the global IPBES report on pollination (Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination, and Food Production) from 2016 have been implemented in their national legislation. Subsequently, Katerina Atanasovska from North Macedonia presented the opportunities and challenges involved in establishing a national IPBES network for a country that joined the ECA as a member in 2022.
Many countries do not yet have an established IPBES platform for science policy, as we do in Denmark. There was generally a great deal of interest in learning more about the establishment of a national IPBES platform, and the Danish IPBES office is unique in that six Danish universities fund its day-to-day operations, while grant applications cover the costs associated with carrying out larger projects.
See also: The Value of Biodiversity—Symposium Attracted Over 100 Participants in Copenhagen
High school For example, educational workbooks developed by the Danish IPBES office are funded by the Aage V. Jensen Nature Foundation, while a number of Danish symposia are held with a grant from the 15 June Foundation. In a country such as Germany, for example, the situation is different—there, the German IPBES office is funded by a number of ministries, including the Ministry of the Environment. The path to establishing a national IPBES platform therefore varies from country to country.
A bridge between the natural sciences and politics
The global IPBES is, in itself, a science-policy platform designed to bridge the gap between science and the political arena, including through the preparation and dissemination of the findings from IPBES’s biodiversity reports. The national IPBES platforms serve similar communication purposes at the national level.
During PESC-7, one of the major topics of discussion was how to maintain a more interdisciplinary approach to addressing the biodiversity crisis. The natural science approach has served as a starting point in several of the global IPBESreports’ analysis of human impacts on nature and biodiversity, alongside the need for locally grounded expertise and knowledge.
In recent reports, the interdisciplinary focus has intensified, in part because the topics addressed in the latest reports—including “Values Assessment” and the upcoming report on “Transformative Change” and “Business & Biodiversity”—naturally lend themselves to an interdisciplinary approach. During the PESC-7 meeting, it was once again emphasized how important it is to continue developing the involvement of experts and knowledge from other academic disciplines, such as the social sciences.
This strictly interdisciplinary perspective will continue to be reflected in the global report on barriers and opportunities for transformativechange, which is eagerly anticipated and expected to be published in 2024. Transformative change generally refers to the need for a fundamental shift in society’s values and foundations, so that nature and biodiversity are integrated to a much greater extent into all political and societal decision-making processes.
New Global Report on Invasive Species
In addition to the topics mentioned above, the meeting in Kastamonu provided an opportunity to prepare participants for the 10th IPBES Plenary Meeting, IPBES10, scheduled for late August of this year. The 140 member states of IPBES will gather there, with a particular focus on the upcoming global publication on invasive species, *Thematic Assessment of Invasive Alien Species and their Control*. The draft report is complete and is currently under review. In Bonn, the final wording of the report is expected to be finalized through negotiations.
In previous global and regional IPBES reports, invasive species have been identified as one of the five main causes of biodiversity loss. In 2018, it was decided that a comprehensive report on this topic would be necessary to understand the effects, causes, and options for action regarding this “driver.”
The upcoming report is expected to contribute to a better understanding of the growing threat that invasive species pose to biodiversity. During the 10th plenary meeting, new topics for future IPBES reports will also be decided, including a possible new global IPBES report on the state and trends of biodiversity.
Find previous global IPBES reports here
Finally, the themes for future IPBES reports were discussed at the meeting. These themes concern a second global report, which will be discussed at the 11th IPBES plenary meeting, as well as the monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services, which will be discussed at the 10th IPBES plenary meeting.
Finally, the outline has been drafted for a report with the tentative title *Integrated Biodiversity-Inclusive Spatial Planning and Ecological Connectivity*, which will be discussed at the 11th IPBES Plenary Meeting. None of these topics have been definitively adopted, and it is therefore up to the IPBES plenary sessions to decide whether these reports should be launched.
Read more about the upcoming 10th plenary meeting in Bonn here
