Chapter 3 : the intergovernmental science-policy platform on Biodiversity and ecosystem services (ipBes)

Abstract

Filling an identified gap, the establishment of an international mechanism forscience / policy and expert / decision maker interface, in the field of biodiversitydoes not go so smoothly. this new institution is the result of a relatively long andarduous international negotiations process, the starting point having been anidea launched in Paris in 2005 at an international conference on biodiversity andsupported by President chirac. the “intergovernmental science-Policy Platformon biodiversity and Ecosystem services” (iPbEs) is part of a legal andinstitutional landscape very complex and fragmented. Even though it wasofficially established in 2012 and held its first meeting in january 2013, its statusand governance, as well as its procedures and methods of operation remain to bedefined. often presented as the iPcc (intergovernmental Panel on climatechange) biodiversity, it is inspired in fact by the latter while distinguishing inseveral respects.