Story | 28 Jun, 2019

Options for Governance and Decision-making across Scales and Sectors

CEESP News - by Dr. Marina Rosales Benites de Franco, Professor and Researcher of Federico Villarreal National University

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) regional assessment objectives is to make informed decisions at the local, regional, & international levels on biodiversity & ecosystem services as science-policy interface. Chapter 6 of this IPBES regional assessment focuses on options for governance and decision-making across scales and sectors relating to the Americas and its environment and ecosystems. 

Chapter 6 in IPBES' regional assessment report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services For the Americas emphasizes that in most countries of the region, the environment is mostly dealt with as a separate sector in national planning, and has hitherto not been effectively mainstreamed across development sectors. Indeed, despite reported reductions in the rate of loss in specific biomes in the Americas, the net loss that is currently evident in almost every aspect of the region’s natural ecosystems is expected to continue through to 2050, driven largely by unsustainable agricultural practices and climate change. However, ecological restoration is having positive effects at local scales, speeding up ecosystem recovery in many cases. In this regard, there is an overall lack of policy evaluation in the Americas, which is more pronounced in Latin America and the Caribbean than it is in North America.

To read more about the cross roads between the lack of policy evaluation, biodiversity net-loss, local environmental restoration, and the development sector in the Americas, read the rest of Chapter 6 here.

 


About the Author:

Dr. Marina Rosales is a professor and researcher at Federico Villarreal National University teaching ecology and ecosystem conservation. Having her PhD on Environment and Sustainable Development and a masters in Forest Conservation, her research focuses on sustainable wildlife use, illegal wildlife trade, and ecosystem services. Since 2016, she has been an IPBES expert.

She is a member of the CEESP Specialist Group on Sustainable Use and Livelihoods (SULI) and other IUCN commissions like WCPA and CEM.