IPLC

Highlights for Thursday, 29 August 2019 Representatives from civil society at the end of a peaceful demonstration about nature and people protection versus corporate interest. The first meeting of the Working Group on Post-2020 resumed discussions on Thursday, tackling the future work programme of the Working Group and allocation of tasks to other intersessional bodies and processes. Delegates called for inter alia: a balanced approach in thematic intersessional consultations; ensuring draft text is available ahead of the second meeting of the Working Group; and involvement of the UN Environment Management Group to ensure inputs from all multilateral environmental agreements. During the lunch break, delegates attended an information session focused on strategic planning. Nick Salafsky, Foundations of Success, presented the second of a two-part series on developing a shared strategic planning framework. He led participants in an interactive exercise on developing Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Result-Oriented, and Time-limited (SMART) targets, using, among other principles, the theory of change.In the afternoon and evening, a discussion group co-chaired by Charlotta Sörqvist (Sweden) and Dilosharvo Dustov (Tajikistan) met to discuss a non-paper prepared by the discussion group co-chairs on a possible structure of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF). Delegates deliberated on the components of, and relationships between, the rationale, the preamble, the 2050 Vision, the 2030 mission, a possible apex goal and milestones, and goals, targets, sub-targets and indicators. Discussions focused on central questions to the structure, including, inter alia: whether the 2030 mission should express an action to be taken or a status of biodiversity to be achieved by 2030; how to express the 2030 mission in a simple manner while ensuring a balanced representation of all three pillars of the Convention; how to formulate SMART goals, indicators and targets; how to ensure that levers of transformative change are specified within the scope of the GBF; and whether an apex goal would benefit or hinder effective implementation of the GBF. With only one day left of the meeting, delegates continued to push towards a tangible outcome. One delegate remarked that we want to leave with clear guidance on the “post-2020 outcome we want” to enable us to return for the second meeting with more substance than a “to do list.” Some delegates were already eager to produce and negotiate text, and urged for ensuring that the second meeting will be furnished with comprehensive preparative documents. Many called for intersessional consultations that go beyond the subsidiary bodies of the convention, the Bureau and the Secretariat. The discussion group, some delegates noted, allowed for unpacking of details of the GBF’s scope and structure. Noting how much time was taken on targets, one delegate remarked that, “the apex target is becoming a distraction,” and that there should be more focus on implementation, which is indeed where we failed with the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage from the 1st Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has published a summary and analysis report which is now available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Hlobsile Sikhosana, eSwatini Working Group Co-Chair Basile van Havre, Canada Marina von Weissenberg, Anne Theo Seinen, and Stefan Leiner, EU Takafumi Osawa, Japan Sonia Peña Moreno, and Jane Smart, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) L-R: Amy Fraenkel, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), and Tita Korvenoja and Diane Klaimi, UNEP María Rivera, Ramsar Convention, and Katia Karousakis, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Cicilia Githaiga, Women Ken Paul, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) Abdulghani A.M. Al-Bokwali, Yemen Kevin Lunzalu, Global Youth Biodiversity Network Kenya Amy Fraenkel, Acting CMS Executive Secretary Barbara Lassen, Natural Justice Diagana Mallé, Mauritania Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, CBD Secretariat Malte Timpte, Institute for Biodiversity Network (IBN) Óscar Guevara, WWF Colombia Yemisi Fawibe, Nigeria Lactitia Tshitwamulomoni, South Africa Delegates continued work during the afternoon and evening on the potential elements and scope of the framework. Nick Salafsky, Foundations of Success, during the lunch event on Strategic Planning Frameworks - Part II Participants engage in an activity to develop a SMART target Delegates from the Arab region meet at lunch time L-R: Neville Ash, Director, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC); Aria St. Louis, Grenada; and Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Ghana, share a laugh at the end of the morning session Evening informal consultations Members of the 30X30 Ocean Alliance meet outside plenary (L-R) Alfred DeGemmis, Wildlife Conservation Society; Justin Kenney, 30X30 Ocean Alliance; Masha Kalinina, Pew Charitable Trusts; Lina Barrera, Conservation International; and Michael Degnan, Campaign for Nature L-R: Brian O’Donnell and Raina Thiele, Campaign for Nature, and Holly Jonas, ICCA Consortium Civil society asked parties “Who do you listen to: Nature & people or corporate interest?”

Highlights for Wednesday, 28 August 2019 The global civic movement AVAAZ delivers Letters for Life on Earth to world leaders who are called upon to champion a new global deal for nature that protects half the earth, and uses the other half sustainably. More than 2.8 million citizens support this petition. Read all 10 books. The first meeting of the Working Group on Post-2020 resumed discussions on the elements of the structure and scope of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF) on Wednesday.Delegates completed discussions on clusters two, three and four on: enabling conditions and means of implementation for the GBF, including resource mobilization, financial mechanisms, capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation and technology transfer, knowledge management, and communication; planning and accountability modalities, mechanisms and tools, including National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs); national reports, the review process, and voluntary contributions; and cross-cutting approaches and issues, including mainstreaming, synergies, partnerships, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), gender and youth. During lunch delegates attended an information session on scientific evidence for informing the design of the framework. Presentations included: Ana María Hernández, Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), who outlined key IPBES statistics on the impacts of direct drivers of biodiversity loss, and noted the scientific evidence that will be provided by the upcoming IPBES assessments on transformative change and the nexus of biodiversity, water, food and health. Jian Liu, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), who outlined key findings illustrating biodiversity as a “hidden crisis”. He presented scientific evidence showing that pollution, climate change and biodiversity are the three major interlinked challenges to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), concluding that with the approaching tipping points, transformational change is long overdue. Irene Hoffmann, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, who outlined scientific evidence on multiple interacting drivers of change affecting biodiversity for food and agriculture, and proposed four areas for action, including, among others: addressing knowledge and data gaps; supporting emerging biodiversity-friendly management practices; and improving cross-sectoral collaboration. Andreas Benjamin Schei, Norwegian Environment Agency, summarized the outputs of the ninth Trondheim Conference on Biodiversity. He highlighted participants’ focus on the urgent need for, inter alia: mainstreaming biodiversity; ecosystem restoration; capturing a variety of ways of understanding nature; increased coherence in implementing the Rio Conventions at the national level; and the ability to track post-2020 implementation. In the evening, a discussion group chaired by Charlotta Sörqvist (Sweden) and Dilosharvo Dustov (Tajikistan) met to reach a common understanding on the structure and scope of the outcome-oriented elements: vision, mission, goals and targets. Delegates also attended an information session on Nature-Based Solutions and the Climate Action Summit.With such a short week to complete discussions, day two saw in-depth and focused interventions on the potential elements on structure and scope of the GBF. Delegates started wondering whether the outcome of this first meeting will provide an adequately developed foundation for subsequent meetings, and eventually enable a GBF worthy for adoption at the 2020 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 15). Plenary discussions reflected a strong sense that implementation should be a key focus. Indeed, there were many echoing voices emphasizing that if we do not address financial arrangements and enabling conditions, we will be setting ourselves up for failure. It would mean, stressed several delegates, that we have not learned from our mistakes in the context of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Familiar debates emerged regarding the balance between ambition and feasibility. One delegate cautioned against, “biting off more than we can swallow,” while another participant said, “with the approaching global tipping points, transformational change is needed yesterday.” IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage from the 1st Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has published a summary and analysis report which is now available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page The dais during the morning session Niklaus Wagner, Switzerland Georgina Catacora-Vargas, Bolivia Aurélie Taylor Patience Dingom and Prudence Tangham Galega, Cameroon Daniel Wai-Poi, New Zealand Daniel Wepukhulu, Kenya Byoung-Yoon Lee and Yuri Kim, Republic of Korea Carlos Manuel Alomía, Ecuador Elizabeth Taylor Jay, Colombia Delegates during Wednesday’s proceedings Maria Luisa Angélica del Río Mispireta, Peru, and Santiago Bertoni, Paraguay Georgina Chandler, Birdlife International María Rivera, Ramsar Convention, and Katia Karousakis, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Brooke Hynes, Australia Linda Krueger, The Nature Conservancy Marta Eugenia Juárez Ruiz, Costa Rica Jeanne N’Tain, Côte d’Ivoire Eder Peña, Venezuela Rita Uwaka, Friends of the Earth Nigeria Iván Vejar Pardo, Chile Resiato Salyan, Women Amielle DeWan (left), National Geographic Fellow, facilitated the lunch session on Recent Assessments IPBES Chair Ana María Hernández Irene Hoffmann, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) L-R: Joji Cariño, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP); Aslak Holmberg, Saami Council; and Lakpa Nuri Sherpa, AIPP Maria (Masha) Kalinina, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and Marina Antonopoulou, WWF Delegates at informal meetings outside the plenary room The South African delegation Representatives from Civil Society during a break L-R: Óscar Soria, Avaaz; Hesiquio Benítez Díaz, Mexico; and Laura Rico, Avaaz

Highlights for Saturday, 4 May 2019 IPBES Chair Robert Watson, UK, gavels the meeting to a close at 2:58 pm. On Saturday morning, the working group on the Global Assessment recovened to review a table listing key knowledge gaps, which the group eventually agreed to add to the summary for policy makers (SPM) of the Global Assessment as an annex.Plenary convened at 11:00 am. Delegates approved the SPM and accepted the chapters of the Global Assessment report without further amendments. They applauded the Chapter Lead Authors, Experts, and the Technical Support Unit involved in preparing the assessment. Plenary then adopted IPBES’ Rolling Work Programme up to 2030 and the budget, and elected new members to the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel and the Bureau. Plenary elected Anna Maria Hernández (Colombia) as new IPBES Chair, and delegates accepted Morocco’s offer to host IPBES-8 in early 2021.CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Pașca Palmer said biodiversity loss is destroying the “bedrock” of ecosystem services with dramatic economic and social consequences. She outlined forthcoming international biodiversity meetings towards the post-2020 biodiversity framework, noting they present an unprecedented opportunity to find a way forward.IPBES Executive Secretary Anne Larigauderie called the assessment “a landmark report,” stressing that current trends do not allow much optimism, and highlighting that biodiversity is also a development, economic, and security issue. She called on participants to work together to make most of the current momentum for biodiversity.In closing statements, Africa called for facilitating and monitoring the uptake of the Global Assessment’s outcomes. Asia and Pacific stressed the need for successful implementation of the adopted work programme. The Eastern European Region highlighted capacity building under the new work programme. Latin America and the Caribbean highlighted the technical paper on biodiversity and climate change. Western Europe and Others said that its members should use the Global Assessment to trigger decisions at all levels. The US said that IPBES’ efforts will serve and protect generations to come.The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), for the biodiversity-related conventions, underscored the importance of stronger alignment of IPBES with the biodiversity conventions, who in turn, should work to address synergies. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) said understanding conservation and connectivity are “crucial.” The International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IIFBES) stated that IPBES is strengthened by inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) in all programmes. The Open-ended Network of IPBES Stakeholders (ONet) asked members to integrate outcomes into national agendas, into discussions at the UN General Assembly, and into the Rio Conventions.In his farewell speech, outgoing IPBES Chair Robert Watson reminisced on his long history of involvement in environmental assessments, calling chairing IPBES his “most rewarding job.” He stated the Global Assessment gives the private sector and civil society the evidence they need for evidenced-based policy making.He then gaveled IPBES-7 to a close at 2:58 pm.Summary and Analysis: The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary and analysis of IPBES-7 will be available on this site on Tuesday, 7 May 2019. IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from IPBES-7. Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Working Group I finalizes work before plenary. IPBES-7 meets for its final day at UNESCO Headquarters. IPBES Executive Secretary Anne Larigauderie CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer Global Assessment Co-Chair Eduardo S. Brondízio, Brazil/US, celebrates the SPM approval with Rapporteur Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Ghana. Global Assessment authors and delegates celebrate the SPM approval. Stefan Leiner, EU Olivier Fontan, France Eiji Tanaka, Japan Ana María Hernández Salgar, Colombia, is congratulated by delegates on her election as the new IPBES Chair. Outgoing Chair Robert Watson, UK, receives a standing ovation at the end of IPBES-7. IPBES Executive Secretary Anne Larigauderie and outgoing Chair Robert Watson, UK, at the end of IPBES-7. The Multidisciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) meets before plenary Members of the outgoing and incoming Bureau Around the Venue Family photo of the Global Assessment Report Chapter 6 Authors CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer and IPBES Executive Secretary Anne Larigauderie L-R: Sarah Banda, IPBES Secretariat; Global Assessment Co-Chairs Sandra Díaz, Argentina, Eduardo S. Brondízio, Brazil/US, and Josef Settele, Germany; and Ione Anderson, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research Interpreters at work A view of Paris from UNESCO Headquarters The ENB team with outgoing Chair Robert Watson, UK, and incoming Chair Ana María Hernández Salgar, Colombia.

Highlights for Friday, 3 May 2019 Family photo of members of the IPBES Secretariat and the outgoing Bureau. On Friday, IPBES-7 delegates continued negotiations in two working groups to finalize the summary for policy makers (SPM) of the Global Assessment and the Platform’s future work programme.The working group on the Global Assessment continued discussing the SPM background section before returning to outstanding issues in the key messages. In the evening, they began considering a table outlining possible actions in the various areas addressed in the SPM.Highlights of the working group on the Global Assessment included: A lengthy discussion on recognizing non-human rights, including animal rights and rights of nature. Opinions diverged regarding reference to internationally recognized rights, like the ones on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) versus the inclusion of non-human rights that are under active international negotiation. Extended debate on reducing consumption and waste, particularly among “the affluent,” as well as regarding the notion of social justice. Some delegates suggested referring to “changes” in consumption and waste rather than “reduction” and to social “equity” instead of social “justice.” This was followed by a lengthy discussion regarding circular economy, with delegates exchanging opinions on whether the concept of resource efficiency includes the idea of the circular economy. Recurrent discussions on various approaches to sustainable land management to be referenced in relation to the need to transform food systems and landscape management. Delegates also discussed the need to avoid overloading the Secretariat with work by asking it to launch several scoping processes in parallel to ongoing assessments, and the need to maintain flexibility for IPBES to react to emerging issues. The working group on the future work programme agreed, after lengthy debate, on launching two assessment scoping processes on the nexus between biodiversity, water, food, and health, and on transformative change. The group also discussed at length how to invite the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to engage in developing a joint technical publication on Biodiversity and Climate Change, preferably to be completed on time to inform discussions on the post-2020 biodiversity framework in late 2020. The eventually agreed to invite the Executive Secretaries of IPBES and IPCC to explore this issue.For extensive details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB). IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from IPBES-7. In addition, IISD Reporting Services, will publish a summary and analysis report of IPBES-7 on Tuesday, 7 May 2019. Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Working Group I Global Assessment Co-Chairs Sandra Díaz and Eduardo S. Brondízio Arthur Cesar Lima Naylor, Brazil José Rafael Almonte Perdomo, Dominican Republic Delegates from France and the US consult on the draft text. Luciano Donadio Linares, Argentina Wadzanayi Goredema-Mandivenyi, South Africa Hien Ngo, IPBES Secretariat, and Christine Dawson, US Neville Ash, Director, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and David Cooper, Deputy Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity L-R: Tom Dixon, Forest Peoples Programme (FPP); Edna Kaptoyo, Indigenous Information Network; and Polina Shulbaeva, FPP The German delegation reviews the draft text. IPBES Chair Robert Watson, UK, addresses members of the Friends of the Chair group. A Friends of the Chair group meets at lunch time to address outstanding issues in the summary for policy makers of the Global Assessment. Working Group II Working Group II Co-Chairs Ana María Hernández Salgar, Colombia, and Ivar Andreas Baste, Norway Mariam Akhtar-Schuster and Barbara Engels, Germany Adam Van Opzeeland, New Zealand Carmel Mbizvo (right), South Africa, discusses with delegates from Malawi and Zambia. Delegates continue deliberations in the evening to complete work before Saturday’s plenary. Around the Venue The IPBES Secretariat sings a song to thank the outgoing Bureau members. Registration staff family photo A view of Paris from UNESCO Headquarters