IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

IUCN Programme on IPBES

After years of international negotiations, in April 2012 more than 90 governments agreed to officially establish the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It will be a leading global body providing scientifically sound and relevant information to support more informed decisions on how biodiversity and ecosystem services are conserved and used around the world.

IUCN has contributed to the negotiation process for the establishment of IPBES since 2008. Its extensive experience with science, knowledge and policy tools, as well as its nature as a multi-stakeholder union, put IUCN at the heart of the civil society involvement in IPBES.

Latest News

How to win a Nobel Prize for IPBES?

Imagine 2023, 10 years from now. Has IPBES fundamentally helped to achieve the global biodiversity targets 2020, engaged 100 fellow researchers from Africa, won the Nobel Prize and more? If so, where is the key today, at the beginning of the process, aimed to unlock enhanced science, conservation and policy links? …

17 Sep 2013 | Video

Planning the first IPBES harvest

How could 100+ IPBES State Members effectively participate in the forthcoming Platform’s activities 2014-2018? IUCN recommends improving the current plan with priority given to capacity-building activities, setting up science-policy dialogues at national level, specifying burning conservation issues to tackle and harnessing the work of IUCN to the greatest extent. …

06 Aug 2013 | News story

World’s oldest and largest species in decline – IUCN Red List

The latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ shows worrying declines for conifers – the world’s oldest and largest organisms – freshwater shrimps, cone snails and the Yangtze Finless Porpoise. The Santa Cruz Pupfish, a lizard known as the Cape Verde Giant Skink and a species of freshwater shrimp have been declared Extinct. … | French | Spanish | Dutch

02 Jul 2013 | International news release

France and IUCN to intensify support for IPBES

IUCN has renewed its partnership with France, which aims to support the Union's global biodiversity conservation work, including global governance of natural resources. These joint efforts will strengthen the Union’s contribution to IPBES in the next four years. …

21 Jun 2013 | News story

Bilimbi, a wild fruit on a farm tree. Though the fruit is very acid it makes a very good beverage.

Even farm biodiversity is declining as accelerating species loss threatens humanity

The accelerating disappearance of Earth’s species of both wild and domesticated plants and animals constitutes a fundamental threat to the well-being and even the survival of humankind, warns the founding Chair of IPBES, a new global organization created to narrow the gulf between leading international biodiversity scientists and national policy-makers. …

31 May 2013 | News story

Cheetahs in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

From words to action – key organizations team up to stop the extinction crisis

With unprecedented species declines and more than 20,000 of the species assessed on The IUCN Red List threatened with extinction, IUCN and other organizations come together to support the achievement of a global biodiversity target to prevent further species loss. … | Dutch

28 May 2013 | International news release

Coming soon: Guidelines to engage contributors and users in IPBES

Engaging the most relevant experts in the IPBES work is one of the greatest challenges that this new platform is facing. Following the invitation from the IPBES State Members, IUCN and the International Council for Science (ICSU) are proposing a strategy to ensure appropriate stakeholder involvement in line with the IPBES purposes and principles. …

21 May 2013 | News story

Groundwater dependant ecosystems support livelihoods in Vietnam

New study shows importance of IUCN’s Red List of Ecosystems

A new global standard in assessing environmental risk, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, has been trialled on 20 ecosystems spanning six continents and three oceans. … | Spanish

08 May 2013 | International news release

Bridging science and policy with the BiodivERsA network

Successful conservation requires sound priority setting and decision-making based on the best available science. Science-policy interfaces are social processes, which encompass relations between scientists and other actors in the policy process, and which allow for exchanges, co-evolution, and joint construction of knowledge with the aim of enriching decision-making at different scales. …

15 Apr 2013 | News story

Beyond nature assessments for better decisions

Dr Thomas Brooks, Head of IUCN Science and Knowledge Unit shares his expectations for IPBES and explains the way he sees IUCN as a Union contributing to this new global nature platform on biodiversity and its benefits. …

03 Apr 2013 | Video