Delegates from Africa pose for a group photo during IPBES-6

IPBES-7 will be held 29 April to 4 May 2019 in Paris, France, and is expected to finalize and launch the Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, conclude the review of the Platform’s effectiveness, and adopt a framework and programme for the Platform’s future work.

The Global Assessment will be the first global synthesis of the state of nature, ecosystems and nature’s contributions to people since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment released in 2005. In a preview of the report, the IPBES Secretariat explains that the Global Assessment, among others:

• Covers all land-based ecosystems (except Antarctica), inland water and the open oceans;
• Evaluates changes over the past 50 years, along with implications for economies, livelihoods, food security and quality of life;
• Explores impacts of trade and other global processes on biodiversity and ecosystem services;
• Ranks the relative impacts of climate change, invasive alien species, pollution, sea and land-use change, and a range of other challenges to nature; and
• Identifies priority gaps in available knowledge that will need to be filled.

At the Plenary’s last session, delegates requested the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel to finalize the Strategic Framework up to 2030 and elements for a rolling work programme. The draft decision contains a prioritized list of topics for future IPBES work, including:

• Promoting biodiversity to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
• Understanding the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and determinants of transformative change to achieve the 2050 vision for biodiversity; and
• Measuring business impact and dependence on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.

The Global Assessment marks the completion of the first IPBES Work Programme adopted at IPBES-3. The Platform adopted its first assessment reports during IPBES-4. IPBES-5 focused on institutional and procedural issues, including indigenous and traditional knowledge, policy support tools and methodologies, and began discussions on IPBES’s second work programme. IPBES-6 adopted four regional assessments and a thematic assessment on land degradation and restoration. See our analysis of IPBES-6 here.

IPBES 7 will be preceded by a Stakeholder Day on 28 April, which provides an opportunity for interested organizations to receive updates on the IPBES process and discuss their engagement.