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Notification: Progress and next steps in scoping IPBES assessments

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EM/2020/04  (25 February 2020)

Notification: Progress and next steps in scoping IPBES assessments

The Plenary, in decision IPBES-7/1, adopted the rolling work programme of IPBES up to 2030, including three assessments: 

         (a) A thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health in the context of climate change (nexus assessment);

         (c)  A thematic assessment of the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and the determinants of transformative change and options for achieving the 2050 vision for biodiversity (transformative change assessment);

         (d)  A methodological assessment of the impact and dependence of business on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people (business and biodiversity assessment).

      In the same decision, the Plenary approved scoping processes for the nexus and transformative change assessments, for consideration by the Plenary at IPBES 8, and for the business and biodiversity assessment for consideration at IPBES 9.

      Calls for nomination for experts to assist with the scoping of the nexus and transformative change assessments were issued on 5 August 2019 (EM/2019/14 and EM/2019/15). In response to the call, 145 nominations for the nexus assessment and 165 nominations for the transformative change assessment were received. The MEP, at its 14th meeting held in January 2020 selected experts from the pool of nominations and identified and filled gaps in expertise. Selected experts were notified in the beginning of February. Once all invited experts have responded to the invitation, the final composition of the expert groups will be made available on the IPBES website, here for the nexus assessment and here for the transformative change assessment.

       In terms of next steps, the scoping meetings are scheduled for 24-26 March 2020 (nexus assessment) and 21-23 April 2020 (transformative change assessment). Please save the date for a review of the draft scoping reports, which is scheduled to take place over a period of approximately 6 weeks between June and July 2020. The comments received will be made available to the scoping experts as an input to finalizing the draft scoping reports for consideration by the Plenary at IPBES 8.

Please also note that the call for experts to assist with the scoping of the business and biodiversity assessment is planned to be issued in September/October 2020. An online conference to seek early input into the scoping process of this assessment is tentatively scheduled for November 2020. Please regularly check the calendar for updates.

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