IPBES is an international science-policy platform affiliated with the United Nations (UNEP, UNDP, FAO, and UNESCO), whose primary purpose is to provide evidence-based consensus assessments on biodiversity and ecosystem services to decision-makers and the public.
IPBES is the biodiversity equivalent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Denmark joined IPBES in 2012, and a Danish office for IPBES— IPBES in Denmark —was established in the fall of 2016. The office was established through a collaboration between five universities—the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, the University of Southern Denmark, and DTU Aqua—as well as the Ministry of Environment and Food.
More than 135 nations have officially acceded to IPBES, and as of 2020, eight international consensus reports have been prepared. These include two global thematic assessments on, respectively, 1) pollinators, pollination, and food production, and 2) land and landscape degradation and restoration potential. In addition, there is a methodological assessment regarding 3) scenarios and models for assessing biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as four regional reports on biodiversity and ecosystem services for, respectively, 4) Europe and Central Asia, 5) Africa, 6) the Americas, and 7) Asia and Oceania. Finally, 8) a global status report from IPBES was adopted in Paris in May 2019 amid significant media attention. The reports are officially adopted by the countries at IPBES plenary meetings, of which seven have been held to date in various locations around the world.
The consensus reports consist of a summary for policymakers of approximately 30 pages and a detailed background report. The content of a consensus report may, for example, include an assessment of the state of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, trends, and the causes of these trends, an assessment of the uncertainty in the findings, an assessment of the implications for our means of livelihood, and a corresponding assessment of policy options tailored to, among others, decision-makers, including politicians and national governments. More than 1,000 leading scientists from a wide range of disciplines are involved in IPBES’s work.
KUpcoming assessments by IPBES will address a) the valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, b) the sustainable use of nature with a focus on species, including, for example, hunting, etc., and c) the impact of invasive species. The reports are prepared at the request of IPBES member states.
Video from EU Environment on the valuation of ecosystem services and biodiversity.
We live in a time when the Earth’s biodiversity is under threat and species are going extinct en masse. Up to 50% of the global gross domestic product consumed by humans comes directly from natural ecosystems. Examples include the circulation of clean water and air, nutrients, pollination of crops and wild plants, fish, and medicinal plants. Therefore, our society depends on politicians and the international community making sustainable and long-term decisions—both nationally and globally.
Professor Carsten Rahbek, Chair of the IPBES Coordination Group in Denmark
Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, University of Copenhagen
