The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) invites governments and prospective experts with relevant knowledge and/or experience to review and further develop the initial scoping for :
(a) The thematic assessment of invasive alien species and their control (Deliverable 3bii)
This assessment will assess the threat that invasive alien species pose to biodiversity, ecosystem services and livelihoods and the global status of and trends in impacts of invasive alien species by region and sub-region, taking into account various knowledge and value systems.
(b) The thematic assessment of sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity and strengthening capacities and tools (Deliverable 3biii)
This assessment will address the ecological, economic, social and cultural importance, conservation status, drivers of change, of mainly harvested and traded biodiversity related products and wild species. It will also assess the potential of the sustainable use of biodiversity for the enhancement of livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities, including the role of traditional governance and institutions. It will identify guidelines, methods and tools and promote best practices, including both modern technologies and indigenous and local knowledge, for sustainable management and harvesting. The assessment will contribute to identification of related knowledge gaps and better technologies, including in respect of indigenous and local knowledge. It will also contribute to the development of policy support tools and methodologies, to enhancing sustainable management schemes (including the establishment and management of harvest quotas), to aiding compliance and enforcement measures, and to addressing capacity-building needs in countries of origin.
The general idea of the ‘scoping’ process is to define the general structure & implementation plan for the assessments (which will be conducted in a second phase). This would involve discussing:
• relevant policy questions,
• scope, rationale and utility of the assessments;
• an issue analysis of what substantive items would need to be covered;
• indicators, metrics and data sets;
• relevant aspects of indigenous and local knowledge systems;
• relevant stakeholders and initiatives and strategic partnerships;
• and capacity building needs.
The objective of the online conference is to run an inclusive process allowing for a broad input into the development of the scoping documents engaging as many experts as possible. This step represents an innovation compared to the scoping processes performed in 2014, which consisted of a face-to-face scoping workshop with a limited number of experts. The e-conference will be conducted over three weeks (7th- 25th of September 2015). It will essentially be implemented as an internet forum/discussion board that will allow experts to post their contributions in structured discussion boards, reply to already posted contributions, or simply read the contributions, discussing various elements relevant to the scoping reports. At the end of each week a synthesis report will be prepared based on comments and discussions held during the week. The next week’s discussions will build on the discussions of the previous week and by the end of the third week the intention is to have a draft that would already resemble as much as possible the structure of the final scoping reports. These draft scoping reports will be the base for the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel and Bureau to finalize the documents for consideration by the Plenary at its fourth session 22-28 February 2016.
Experts, practitioner, decision makers and knowledge holders interested to participate are requested to fill the online registration form. Once the registered account has been approved the Secretariat will send a confirmation e-mail and further information on the e-conference and scoping process.
Interested experts are also invited to notify of their registration by emailing theur name, current position and area(s) of expertise to: Hilde Eggermont (h.eggermont@biodiversity.be)