IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is a mechanism proposed to further strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and add to the contribution of existing processes that aim at ensuring that decisions are made on the basis of the best available scientific information on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services. IPBES is proposed as a broadly similar mechanism to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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. This includes 2 main requirements:

• that scientific information is relevant to policy demands and is formulated in a way that is accessible to policy and decision makers; and
• that policy and decision makers take into account available scientific information in their deliberations and that they formulate their demands or questions in a way that are accessible for scientists to provide the relevant information.

Click here for a graphic showing the cycle of science-policy interface.

There are already several mechanisms and processes at national, regional and global level that are designed to ensure that scientific information is considered when designing policies or making decisions (examples of this are technical bodies/panels under the environmental agreements or national research institutions attached to ministries, among many others). However, there is no global ongoing mechanism recognized by the scientific and policy communities, that pulls this information together, synthesizes and analyzes it for decision making in a range of policy fora.