International Science Council: Call for nominations of experts for IPBES

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is seeking experts to assist with the scoping of a thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health.

The ISC is pleased to share this call for nominations from IPBES. Members will recall that the ISC had a convening role in the external review of IPBES and we invite qualified individuals to nominate through the process outlined below:

The IPBES Plenary, at its seventh session held in Paris from 29 April to 4 May 2019, adopted “the rolling work programme of IPBES up to 2030” (set out in annex I to decision IPBES-7/1), which includes, under its first objective, a thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health.

This assessment will use a nexus approach to examine the strong interlinkages among the Sustainable Development Goals related to food and water security, health for all, protecting biodiversity on land and in the oceans and combating climate change, among others. Interlinkages take various forms, including synergies, co-benefits and trade-offs.

The challenge is to achieve good health for all with food and water security, including through the enhanced use of biodiversity, without adversely impacting biodiversity, water quality or climate and in the context of global change, including climate change.

Addressing the nature of the interlinkages between biodiversity and other relevant issues reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development may advance the understanding of biodiversity-related impacts, dependencies, synergies and trade-offs across the Sustainable Development Goals and of options for integrated and cross-sectoral approaches to achieving this Agenda.

The Multidisciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) invites Governments and other stakeholders to nominate experts to assist with the scoping of this assessment.

The scoping process will be conducted in line with the procedures for IPBES deliverables set out in decision IPBES-3/3, annex I (available here) and based on the initial scoping report for this assessment set out in section I of appendix II to document IPBES/7/6 (available here).

Importantly, nominated experts should have expertise in one or more disciplines within natural science, social science or humanities, or in indigenous and local knowledge systems, or be policy experts or practitioners.  We strongly encourage nominations of experts to reflect this broad range of expertise and encourage nominations of experts with inter- and multi-disciplinary expertise.  We would like to stress that expertise beyond the natural sciences is essential given the fact that this assessment would identify and assess the full range of multi-sectoral response options.

IPBES is seeking, in particular, experts, practitioners or policy experts knowledgeable on interlinkages between: biodiversity and agriculture/food, aquaculture, animal production and nutrition; biodiversity and human physical and mental health and infectious diseases; biodiversity and water quality; biodiversity and climate mitigation and adaptation; and experts knowledgeable on multiple interactions among these issues.

All nominated experts (Nominees) need to be available to attend the scoping meeting that is part of the scoping process, tentatively scheduled for 24-27 March 2020.

All Governments and relevant organizations or institutions are encouraged to submit nominations. Organizations or institutions wishing to nominate are not required to have the status of an observer to the Plenary of IPBES to make a nomination. Please help us to disseminate this call for nominations of experts widely.

Please follow this procedure for nomination:

  • Nominees are invited to fill out the application form and attach their curriculum vitae, through the dedicated web portal at https://www.ipbes.net/application-form-experts-assist-scoping-ipbes-nexus-assessment. (To access this page, you will need to log in with your IPBES web site login credentials or Nominees not yet registered on the IPBES web site will need to do so by clicking on “Create new account”.) Please note that the nomination form is in English only and applications should be submitted in English, as the assessment process will be conducted in English.
  • The nominating Government or organization (Nominator) indicated by the Nominee will receive an email with a link to the nomination form and will be invited to approve and submit the nominations in the web portal.
  • Nominators and Nominees will receive a confirmation via email once the nomination has been duly submitted.

Interested experts wishing to be nominated by a Government are encouraged to contact their IPBES National Focal Point (https://www.ipbes.net/national-focal-points) regarding any country-specific processes or deadlines and are requested to fill out their application form by 15 October 2019.

Nominators (Governments or organizations) should approve the applications and submit their nominations by 29 October 2019. Early nominations ahead of the deadline are encouraged.

Please note also the parallel call for nominations of experts to assist with the scoping of a thematic assessment of transformative change, available here.

Source: Announcement International Science Council, 06.08.2019