International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity
Encyclopedia
The consultative process towards an IMoSEB (International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity) was a broad, multidisciplinary exploratory process from 2005 to 2008 that involved a large number of stakeholders and had an important political and media audience. Its aim was the creation of a true value-added process by fully taking into account existing and current initiatives and mechanisms .
Initiated at the International Conference "Biodiviersity: Science and Governance" in January 2005, it ended in November 2007 with the final meeting of its International Steering Committee (ISC). IMoSEB recommendations and results were then brought at a higher political scale and congrued with the Millennium ecosystem assessment
follow up initiaitve to create the IPBES initiative, led by UNEP. IPBES first meeting took place in November 2008 in Putrajaya
, Malaysia.
like for biodiversity
. The final declaration of the conference recommended in response, the launch of an international multi-stakeholder consultative process guided by a balanced multi-stakeholder steering committee. This process would assess the need for an international mechanism which would:
A provisional steering committee, based on the scientific and organizational committee of the conference , was set up to define the IMoSEB steering committee and its modalities of work .
conference held in Oaxaca, in October 2005, the scientific community reiterated its support to the consultative process and for the establishment of a scientific panel on biodiversity that included an intergovernmental component
(CBD) SBSTTA in December 2006
An Executive Committee (EC) was appointed to draft a plan of action for the consultation phase. The Executive Committee is co-chaired by Alfred Oteng-Yeboah and Michel Loreau and the following people became members of the EC: Ivar Baste, Martha Chouchena-Rojas, Christine Dawson, Horst Korn, Keping Ma, Georgina Mace, Martha Mapangou, Charles Perrings, Peter Raven, José Sarukhán, Robert Watson, Jacques Weber.
The Executive Secretariat was composed of the Executive Secretary, Didier Babin (Institut Français de la Biodiversité) and Maxime Thibon (Institut Français de la Biodiversité). The Executive Secretariat (ES) was responsible for coordination and promotion of the consultative process.
Anne Larigauderie
(DIVERSITAS) contributed to the work of this secretariat.
The Executive Committee was asked to consider these two tasks and developed a plan of action for the consultation
A first step, based on case studies, aiming at:
Based on the results of the studies, the Executive Committee idntified a series of needs and formulated a number of possible options, as basis for discussion during regional consultations, seeking feedback on these propositions.
and human well-being at the international scale.
Options formulated by the EC as basis for discussion
These consultations took place in:
The mean features of an IMoSEB would be:
The mechanism would be:
2008 agenda included:
This concept note was presented at several events (CBD COP 9, IUCN world congress) and for review by governments.
All the meeting document as well as the advance report are available on the IPBES website
Initiated at the International Conference "Biodiviersity: Science and Governance" in January 2005, it ended in November 2007 with the final meeting of its International Steering Committee (ISC). IMoSEB recommendations and results were then brought at a higher political scale and congrued with the Millennium ecosystem assessment
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, released in 2005, is an international synthesis by over 1000 of the world's leading biological scientists that analyses the state of the Earth’s ecosystems and provides summaries and guidelines for decision-makers...
follow up initiaitve to create the IPBES initiative, led by UNEP. IPBES first meeting took place in November 2008 in Putrajaya
Putrajaya
Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas...
, Malaysia.
International Conference "Biodiversity: Science and Governance"
During the International Conference held in January 2005, President Jacques Chirac launched a call for action to set up an IPCCIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
like for biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
. The final declaration of the conference recommended in response, the launch of an international multi-stakeholder consultative process guided by a balanced multi-stakeholder steering committee. This process would assess the need for an international mechanism which would:
- Provide a critical assessment of the scientific information and policy options required decision-making;
- Build on existing bodies, current and recent activities
A provisional steering committee, based on the scientific and organizational committee of the conference , was set up to define the IMoSEB steering committee and its modalities of work .
Open Science Conference DIVERSITAS
During the DIVERSITASDiversitas
Diversitas is an international programme on biodiversity science. It is one of four such programmes that collectively come under the Earth System Science Partnership...
conference held in Oaxaca, in October 2005, the scientific community reiterated its support to the consultative process and for the establishment of a scientific panel on biodiversity that included an intergovernmental component
CBD SBSTTA 11
A first presentation of the consultative process, its modalities of work, its goals and possible outcomes, were presented during the 11th meeting of the Convention on Biological DiversityConvention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...
(CBD) SBSTTA in December 2006
International Steering Committee, Executive Committee, Executive Secretariat
The International Steering Committee (ISC) was composed of about 90 members:- Scientists from various disciplines (natural, social, applied and environmental sciences) and countries: Gaston Achoudong, Carlo Heip, Leonard Hirsch, Yvon Le Maho, Michel Loreau, Keping Ma, Georgina Mace, Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Charles Perrings, Peter Raven, José Sarukhán, Robert Scholes, Arkady Tishkov, Jacques Weber;
- Representatives of governments: AlgeriaAlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Costa-Rica, DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, GabonGabonGabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, JamaicaJamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, MadagascarMadagascarThe Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, MalawiMalawiThe Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Malaysia, MoroccoMoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, NamibiaNamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Papua-New Guinea, PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, SenegalSenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, SloveniaSloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, UK, USA; - Inter-Governmental or international Organizations, United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and Specialized Agencies, Non-governmental organizations, Research initiatives and others: CITES, CMS, Conservation International, DiversitasDiversitasDiversitas is an international programme on biodiversity science. It is one of four such programmes that collectively come under the Earth System Science Partnership...
, EPBRS, European CommissionEuropean CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, EEAEuropean Environment AgencyEuropean Environment Agency is an agency of the European Union. Its task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. It is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public...
, FAOFãoFão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
, GBIF, GreenpeaceGreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
(as observer), ICESInternational Council for the Exploration of the SeaThe International Council for the Exploration of the Sea is the world’s oldest intergovernmental science organization. ICES is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, where its multinational Secretariat staff of 51 provide scientific, administrative and secretarial support to the ICES community...
– CIEM, ICSUInternational Council for ScienceThe International Council for Science , formerly the International Council of Scientific Unions, was founded in 1931 as an international non-governmental organization devoted to international co-operation in the advancement of science...
, Institut Français de la Biodiversité, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, IPGRI, IUCN, Millennium Ecosystem AssessmentMillennium Ecosystem AssessmentThe Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, released in 2005, is an international synthesis by over 1000 of the world's leading biological scientists that analyses the state of the Earth’s ecosystems and provides summaries and guidelines for decision-makers...
, Ramsar ConventionRamsar ConventionThe Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...
, RAIPON, Swedish Scientific Council on Biological Diversity, Swiss Biodiversity Forum, The Nature Conservancy, UN CBD, UN CBD - SBSTTA, UNCCD, UNEP - DEWA, UNEP - WCMCWorld Conservation Monitoring CentreThe United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre is an executive agency of the United Nations Environment Programme, based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. UNEP-WCMC has been part of UNEP since 2000, and has responsibility for biodiversity assessment and support...
, UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, United Nations UniversityUnited Nations UniversityThe United Nations University is an academic arm of the United Nations established in 1973, which serves purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The UNU undertakes research into the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of...
- IAS, World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, WWFWorld Wide Fund for NatureThe World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
.
An Executive Committee (EC) was appointed to draft a plan of action for the consultation phase. The Executive Committee is co-chaired by Alfred Oteng-Yeboah and Michel Loreau and the following people became members of the EC: Ivar Baste, Martha Chouchena-Rojas, Christine Dawson, Horst Korn, Keping Ma, Georgina Mace, Martha Mapangou, Charles Perrings, Peter Raven, José Sarukhán, Robert Watson, Jacques Weber.
The Executive Secretariat was composed of the Executive Secretary, Didier Babin (Institut Français de la Biodiversité) and Maxime Thibon (Institut Français de la Biodiversité). The Executive Secretariat (ES) was responsible for coordination and promotion of the consultative process.
Anne Larigauderie
Anne Larigauderie
Dr. Anne Larigauderie is a French ecologist. She is currently Executive Director of DIVERSITAS, the international scientific programme dedicated to biodiversity science, under the auspices of ICSU, and UNESCO.- Studies :...
(DIVERSITAS) contributed to the work of this secretariat.
First ISC meeting and its conclusions
The consultative process was officially launched in February 2006 at irts first meeting in Paris at the French National Museum of Natural History. More than 90 partcipants attended the meeting. The meeting overall ended with the agreement to- Undertake a review of what is needed in the biodiversity science-policy interface, based on a study of existing mechanisms;
- Hold a consultation that would foster an open dialogue and explore different several possible options
The Executive Committee was asked to consider these two tasks and developed a plan of action for the consultation
A first step, based on case studies, aiming at:
- Map out the decision-making landscape affecting biodiversity;
- Analyze, using case studies, successes and failures to preserve biodiversity at different scales;
- Analyze existing models delivering scientific expertise
Based on the results of the studies, the Executive Committee idntified a series of needs and formulated a number of possible options, as basis for discussion during regional consultations, seeking feedback on these propositions.
Case Studies
Several case studies on the science-policy interface on biodiversity and on How scientific is used in decision making processes have been conducted in 2006.- Conabio - the Mexican example
- Invasive species
- Fisheries and expertise
- Avian flu
- Traditional Knowledge, scientific expertise and decision-making
- Lessons from Assessments
Needs&Options
The following needs have been identified by the Executive Committee on the basis of the results of the case studies and from voluntary contributions about the effectiveness with which scientific and other relevant knowledge is used in decisions that affect biodiversity, ecosystem servicesEcosystem services
Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes...
and human well-being at the international scale.
- To bring insights from the relevant sciences and other forms of knowledge to bear on local/national decisions that affect biodiversity where those decisions have international consequences, and where existing decision-processes appear to be relatively ill-informed by science and other forms of relevant knowledge (e.g. on transmission of invasive pests and pathogens, and exploitation of common pool resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction).
- To provide independent scientific information from all relevant sources to support the work of international conventions and institutions, with particular emphasis on the CBD.
- To enhance our capacity to predict the consequences of current actions affecting biodiversity, drawing on the sciences of both natural and social systems.
- To provide, proactively, scientific advice on emerging threats and issues associated with biodiversity change identified either by science, and to be responsive to concerns about potential threats expressed by stakeholders.
- To communicate scientific results on biodiversity to wider relevant audiences.
- To provide scientific support to existing biodiversity and related monitoring and assessment exercises, and potentially to supplement these as necessary.
- To reduce the time lag between the publication of scientific results on biodiversity and their incorporation in decision-processes.
- To inform science and science funding agencies about biodiversity research priorities implied by decision-maker’s concerns.
Options formulated by the EC as basis for discussion
- To form a partnership with existing mechanisms for delivering science to national and international decision-making bodies. This option would have three main functions
- To create a new mechanism, modeled loosely on the IPCC, but with both intergovernmental and nongovernmental components
- To invite the IPCC to consider developing a biodiversity aspect to their activity
- Using and strengthening existing networks of independent scientists to feed science, standards and principles (from existing academies and councils) into different fora through a small coordination mechanism
Regional consultations
In 2007, a set of regional consultations were organized , involving more than 300 participants and 40 international/regional organizations from 70 countries.These consultations took place in:
- MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
for North americaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas... - YaoundeYaoundé-Transportation:Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport is a major civilian hub, while nearby Yaoundé Airport is used by the military. Railway lines run west to the port city of Douala and north to N'Gaoundéré. Many bus companies operate from the city; particularly in the Nsam and Mvan neighborhoods...
for AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area... - GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
for EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting... - BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
for AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population... - Bariloche for South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
- AlotauAlotauAlotau is the capital of Milne Bay Province, a province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern shore of Milne Bay.The town is located within the area in which the invading Japanese army suffered their first land defeat in the Pacific War in 1942, before the Kokoda Track battle. A...
for Pacific
Final International Steering Committee
The Final ISC took place in Montpellier in November 2007, and defined what could be and do a possible IMoSEBThe mean features of an IMoSEB would be:
- supported by networks of scientists and knowledge holders
- with the capacity to conduct assessments
- and able to answer quickly in case of ecological crisis
The mechanism would be:
- independent,
- involving mainly researchers, nominated by governments, and proposed by the scientific community
- with involvement of international organizations and conventions
- hosted by UNEP
2008 agenda included:
- An intergovernmental meeting to define better this mechanism and its funding (held in Nov 2008 in Putrajaya, Malaysia),
- Presentation at CBD COP 9 in Bonn, in May 2008
Final document of the consultative process
- A final report including all the IMoSEB outputs, available here
- A poster presenting the process, available here
Towards an IPBES
Based on the MA follow-up initiative and the outcomes of the IMoSEB consultative, and under the auspice of UNEP, a concept note was developed, beginning of 2008, by a number of experts in their individual capacities, on Intergovernmental Science-Policy platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).This concept note was presented at several events (CBD COP 9, IUCN world congress) and for review by governments.
The Putrajaya meeting
At the Putrajaya meeting, IPBES concept note was discussed between governments.All the meeting document as well as the advance report are available on the IPBES website