Julian, you have been one of the lead-authors of the IPBES for six months, what is IPBES?
IPBES is the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, an intergovernmental body of the United Nations established in 2012, its secretariat is hosted by the German government. Under IPBES 126 governments assess the state of global biodiversity and ecosystem services it provides to society. The mission is to strengthen the science-policy interface for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development (Info video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeZScdbBz-M).
For the non-specialists out there, what is meant by biodiversity and ecosystem services and why should we care?
Already in the Rio climate conference in 1992 scientists and politicians agreed on a definition. ‘Biological diversity’ means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.
“Nature’s Contributions to People” (NCP) include the most important ecosystem services (including goods), which are the provision of food and other biological products (e.g. medicine), sustaining a healthy environment, oxygen production, and CO2 uptake, the two latter being especially important within the climate change problem. But NCP also includes negative impacts on people such as dangerous animals, parasites and diseases.