Carlos Tapia, Humboldt Institute, facilitated the opening ceremony of the sixth Plenary Session of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES-6).

Federico Gutiérrez Zuluaga, Mayor of Medellín, Colombia, highlighted the city’s commitment to a green development pathway including through payment for ecosystem services involving the municipal government and communities living around watersheds.

IPBES Executive Secretary Anne Larigauderie underlined the ambitious nature of IPBES-6 with the expected approval of five assessments. She drew attention to the vital contributions of these assessments to key policy mechanisms, including the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Via video message UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim, stressed the need for political will to address biodiversity loss, called for private sector engagement to ensure restoration of degraded lands and sustainable livelihoods, and emphasized the importance of communicating science in an exciting and innovative way. He underlined that “we cannot bore people into action.”

IPBES Chair Robert Watson (UK) emphasized that historical degradation and destruction of the environment have undermined the well-being of current and future generations. He noted the importance of IPBES-6 in ensuring public recognition of the dangers of biodiversity loss, adding that failure to address this loss will compromise the ability to meet many SDGs.

In a keynote address, President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia, highlighted several ongoing efforts to restore and preserve biodiversity throughout Colombia, a mega-biodiverse nation, including inter alia: increasing the number of terrestrial protected areas (PAs) by 14% and marine PAs (MPAs) by 13%; and regional efforts to protect marine corridors of the Andes, the Amazon and the Atlantic.