Recommendations of Belgian experts on the implementation of IPBES work programme

IPBES: Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

 

On 21 November 2016, the IPBES National Focal Point (coordinated by the Belgian Biodiversity Platform) organised an exchange meeting for Belgian experts engaged in the implementation of the IPBES workprogramme (for scoping exercises, actual assessments and/or reviewing processes), and/or supporting the Belgian IPBES National Focal Point (IPBES NFP) activities. The purpose of the meeting was to provide an overview of progress made over the last year and to collect feedback on the functioning of the expert groups (e.g. experts involved in the regional assessments).

During the meting, Belgian experts exchanged their views and provided key recommendations on how to improve the implementation of the IPBES workprogramme. Some weaknesses include: 

  • The lack of funding to conduct the work for IPBES
  • The lack of feedback received from IPBES after input was provided 
  • The lack of clarity on the balance of experts 
  • The IPBES Global Assessment will be very useful but it will come too late for the review of the Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Some strenghts include: 

  • The assessments released by IPBES* are of very high quality and decision-makers find them very useful to implement their work based on scientific evidence
  • Scientists who provided input to the IPBES assessments understand the added-value of these assessments which do not aim at creating new scienfitic evidence, but rather to re-state current scientific evidence based on credible references in a format fit for decision-makers.
  • Scientists find that the work produced for IPBES assessments can be used for publishing scientific papers derived from this work
  • There is an overall good will and high motivation of people involved in producing outputs for IPBES

To read the full list of feedbacks from experts, please refer to the minutes of the meeting available here.

The presentation given during the meeting by Dr Hilde Eggermont, coordinator of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform and National Focal Point of IPBES is available here. It includes a brief introduction to IPBES on its mission and objectives, as well as an outline of the current progress of IPBES activities. 

For more information on IPBES or on how to get involved as a Belgian researcher, policy-maker or stakeholder, please contact Dr Hilde Eggermont: h.eggermont@biodiversity.be

 

*Assessments approved by IPBES-4 (February 2016):

Thematic assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production

Methodological assessment of scenarios and models of biodiversity and ecosystem services