28.04.2019 – 04.05.2019, Paris (France): 36 GCE students participated in the seventh plenary session of IPBES as “observers”.
For more information click here

22.06.2019, Regensburg (Germany): GCE sent a football team to the “EliteCup” 2019.

29.06.2019, Bayreuth (Germany): The traditional GCE Summerfête took place in the Ecological-Botanical Garden of the University of Bayreuth.
For more information click here

14.10.2019, Bayreuth (Germany): GCE students from the previous years welcomed the new “GCE 2019″ students generation during the GCE Welcome Meeting. 29 new students were expected to start the master´s course in the winter term 2019/20.
For more information click here

25.10.2019 – 27.10.2019, Wallenfels (Germany): GCE students from different years spent a weekend together to get to know each other better.

09.11.2019, Munich (Germany): A group of the new GCE 2019 students travelled to Munich and took part in the “Get Together” of the Elite Network of Bavaria.

09.12.2019, Munich (Germany): 21 “old” GCE students were part of the graduation ceremony of the Elite Network of Bavaria.
For more information click here

13.12.2019 – 14.12.2019, Bayreuth (Germany): The training workshop “Global Diversity” was conducted. The voluntary workshop was organised for 30 GCE students.
For more information click here

We wish everyone a happy new year and look forward to the future together!

The post 2019 – The GCE Year in Review appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“IPBES” and the “Global Assessment Report”

“On the way to ecological insolvency” (spiegel-online), “One million species threatened by extinction” (tagesschau.de), and “Humanity is eradicating nature from earth” (ZDFheute) were three among other similar headlines which suddenly appeared in online media on Monday, May 6, 2019. The headlines were triggered by a press conference held in Paris in which the results of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services were presented to the public. This report was the result of weeklong negotiations that took place during the seventh plenary session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). IPBES, also known as the World Biodiversity Council, is an independent intergovernmental organization. It is tasked with providing scientific advice to policymakers in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem services. In the summary of the Global Assessment Report, contributing scientists describe the current global state of biodiversity. To sum it up, the loss of biodiversity is quickening at a worrying pace.

The report is the result of a multi-year process: According to IPBES, 150 experts from 50 countries worked on the report for three years. This is the first ever global-scale intergovernmental report on nature, ecosystems, and human services. The actual main report entails over 1,000 pages, but its key messages have been summarized for policy makers. For the report to be officially recognized, it had to be approved by the then 132 IPBES member states. Adoption of the report was the main theme of the seventh IPBES Assembly (“IPBES 7”), which took place from April 29 to May 4, 2019 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

“IPBES 7” and the Uni Bayreuth Global Change Ecology students

The international Elite Master’s Program “Global Change Ecology” (GCE) at Uni Bayreuth deals with global environmental changes of the 21st century, such as the loss of biodiversity. As the degree program has an observer status for IPBES, about 30 GCE students made their way to Paris as “observers.” For some students, this was their first participation in an intergovernmental assembly. The simultaneous surprise and frustration over the sometimes torturously slow progress during the negotiations was correspondingly great: Every single sentence of the summary of the Global Assessment Report had to be accepted by all member states present. In practice, this means that negotiations on the wording of some sentences and sections took hours. As the proceedings dragged and fell behind schedule, the chairman became increasingly concerned and animated. The late-houred negotiations did not go unnoticed on the faces of some delegation members. If the Global Assessment Report had not been approved by the General Assembly, it would have signaled a major setback for IPBES, every scientist and stakeholder involved, and above all for the protection of biodiversity.
It was encouraging to see the commitment of people working for the IPBES to succeed. In addition, besides GCE students, many other observers were present, such as representatives of indigenous communities or NGOs who, like us, wished for a successful outcome of the negotiations. “I could feel that there is a lot of people like us around the world – we are only separated most of the time”, says Ana Leticia Vital, a GCE student from Brazil. “In other words, I had the perception that we are not alone concerned about nature and biodiversity conservation.” Aanu Samuel Busari, a GCE student from Nigeria, was thrilled with the global expertise that went into the Global Assessment Report. What impressed him most was “the incredible amount of human and cultural intelligence which go into the production of such a globally accepted legal and scientific document.” As observers, GCE students were in the stands during the negotiations, but people from all over the world were mingling in the entrance hall of the UNESCO headquarters: delegates from various countries, scientists, indigenous peoples, conservationists, and, in between, the GCE students. Much was exciting and new in the first few days, but gradually the processes became more and more familiar.

Fortunately, on the last day, the Global Assessment Report was wholly accepted by all delegations. The immense tension among participants vanished with thunderous applause and all the frustration and tiredness from the previous days had suddenly disappeared. So what remains?
On the one hand, a comprehensive and alarming report which is internationally-recognized now. Although this has no direct political consequences, it increases the pressure on policymakers currently negotiating the post-2020 global biodiversity framework which is to be decided in 2020. Donald Mwaba, a GCE student from Zambia says: “Science is very clear about global changes happening. What remains unclear is whether governments and its people will make the necessary adjustments to counter these changes.”
On the other hand, IPBES 7 has shown that much is possible when willpower remains. The Global Assessment Report provides a simultaneous warning and hope: The results are alarming, but their emergence is the result of global cooperation of countless dedicated people from various professional fields. If this energy is used to not only account for current problems, but also to ensure a life-friendly future, there is still hope despite pessimistic headlines such as those mentioned at the beginning. Ana also thinks: “Somehow, IPBES 7 renewed my hope for our future” and Aanu recalls: “Policies and politics may divide us, but that we are first humans should unite us.”

English editing kindly done by Taylor Blair

The post Warning and hope for our common future: IPBES 7 appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

„IPBES“ und der „Global Assessment Report“

„Auf dem Weg in die ökologische Insolvenz“ (spiegel-online), „Eine Million Arten vom Aussterben bedroht“ (tagesschau.de) und „Menschheit tilgt die Natur von der Erde“ (ZDFheute) sind drei von weiteren ähnlichen Überschriften, die am Montag, dem 06. Mai 2019, in den online-Medien plötzlich auftauchten. Die Schlagzeilen wurden von einer zuvor in Paris abgehaltenen Pressekonferenz ausgelöst, in der die Ergebnisse des sog. „Global Assessment Report[s] on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services“ der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt worden waren. Dieser Report war das Ergebnis einwöchiger Verhandlungen, die während der siebten Vollversammlung der „Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services“ (IPBES) stattgefunden hatten. IPBES, auch „Weltbiodiversitätsrat“ genannt, ist eine unabhängige zwischenstaatliche Organisation. Ihre Aufgabe ist es, politische Entscheidungsträger im Bereich der Biodiversität und Ökosystemdienstleistungen wissenschaftlich zu beraten. In der Zusammenfassung des Global Assessment Reports beschreiben die Wissenschaftler den aktuellen globalen Zustand der Biodiversität. Um es mit einem Satz zusammenzufassen: Der Verlust der Biodiversität schreitet in einem beunruhigend schnellen Tempo voran.

Der Report ist das Ergebnis eines mehrjährigen Prozesses: Laut IPBES arbeiteten 150 Experten aus 50 Ländern drei Jahre lang an der Erstellung des Berichts. Dieser ist der erste jemals erschienene zwischenstaatliche Bericht über den globalen Zustand der Natur, der Ökosysteme und ihrer Dienstleistungen für den Menschen. Der eigentliche Hauptbericht umfasst mehr als 1.000 Seiten, wurde jedoch für die politischen Entscheidungsträger auf die Kernaussagen zusammengefasst. Damit der Bericht offiziell anerkannt werden kann, musste dieser zuvor von den damals 132 IPBES-Mitgliedsstaaten genehmigt werden. Die Verabschiedung des Reports war das Hauptthema der siebten IPBES-Vollversammlung („IPBES 7“), die vom 29. April bis zum 4. Mai 2019 im UNESCO-Hauptquartier in Paris stattfand.

„IPBES 7“ und die Bayreuther „Global Change Ecology“-Studierenden

Der internationale Bayreuther Elite-Masterstudiengang „Global Change Ecology“ (GCE) beschäftigt sich mit den globalen Umweltveränderungen des 21. Jahrhunderts, wie dem Verlust der Biodiversität. Da der Studiengang einen Beobachterstatus für IPBES besitzt, machten sich ca. 30 GCE-Studierende als „Beobachter“ auf den Weg nach Paris. Für einige Studierende war es die erste Teilnahme an einer internationalen Vollversammlung. Entsprechend groß war bei manchen die Überraschung und zugleich Frustration über den teilweise quälend langsamen Fortschritt während der Verhandlungen: Jeder einzelne Satz der Zusammenfassung des Global Assessment Reports musste von allen anwesenden Mitgliedsstaaten akzeptiert werden. In der Praxis bedeutete dies, dass die Verhandlungen um die Formulierungen mancher Sätze und Abschnitte stundenlang dauerten. Je weiter man hinter den Zeitplan zurück fiel, desto besorgter und energischer wurde der leitende Vorsitzende und desto länger zogen sich die Verhandlungsrunden bis in die Nacht hinein, was an den Gesichtern einiger Delegationsmitglieder nicht spurlos vorbei ging. Wäre der Global Assessment Report von der Vollversammlung nicht angenommen worden, hätte dies einen großen Rückschlag für alle involvierten Wissenschaftler und Akteure, für IPBES und vor allem für den Schutz der Biodiversität bedeutet.
Es war ermutigend zu sehen, mit welchem Engagement sich die Menschen, die für IPBES arbeiteten, für einen Erfolg einsetzten. Zudem waren neben uns Bayreuthern viele weitere Beobachter anwesend, wie z.B. Vertreter indigener Einwohner oder NGOs, die sich wie wir einen erfolgreichen Ausgang der Verhandlungen wünschten. „Ich konnte spüren, dass es viele Menschen auf der Welt gibt, die wie wir sind. Nur sind wir die meiste Zeit über voneinander getrennt“, erzählt Ana Leticia Vital, „Global Change Ecology“-Studierende aus Brasilien. „Mit anderen Worten: Ich merkte, wir sind nicht alleine mit unseren Sorgen um den Schutz der Biodiversität.“ Aanu Samuel Busari, GCE-Studierender aus Nigeria, war von der “globalen Expertise” begeistert, aus welcher der Global Assessment Report heraus entstand. Am meisten beeindruckte ihn „die unglaubliche Menge an menschlicher und kulturelle Intelligenz, welche in die Erstellung dieses globalen, wissenschaftlich und politisch anerkannten Dokuments floss.“ Als Beobachter befanden sich die GCE-Studierenden während den Verhandlungen auf der Zuschauertribüne, in der Eingangshalle des UNESCO-Hauptquartiers vermischte sich aber die ganze Welt: Delegationsmitglieder aus den verschiedensten Ländern, Wissenschaftler, Indigene, Naturschützer, Wirtschaftsvertreter und zwischendrin die Bayreuther Studierenden. In den ersten Tagen war noch vieles aufregend und neu, nach und nach wurden die Abläufe aber immer vertrauter.

Am letzten Tag konnte der Global Assessment Report in seiner Gesamtheit zum Glück doch noch von allen Delegationen angenommen werden. Unter tosendem Applaus fiel die ganze Anspannung der letzten Tage von den Teilnehmern ab und aller Frust und die Müdigkeit waren plötzlich verschwunden. Was bleibt?
Zum einen ein umfassender, alarmierender Report, der nun international anerkannt ist. Zwar zieht dieser keine direkten politischen Konsequenzen nach sich, erhöht aber den Druck auf die politischen Entscheidungsträger, die derzeit den neuen globalen Rahmen für die biologische Vielfalt verhandeln, welcher 2020 beschlossen werden soll. Donald Mwaba, GCE-Studierender aus Sambia sagt dazu: „Die Wissenschaft ist zu den derzeit stattfindenden globalen Umweltveränderungen sehr eindeutig. Unklar bleibt, ob die Regierungen und Menschen die notwendigen Maßnahmen ergreifen werden, um sich diesen Veränderungen entgegenzusetzen.“
Zum anderen bleibt die Erkenntnis, dass wenn der Wille da ist, vieles möglich ist. Der Global Assessment Report ist Warnung und Hoffnung zugleich: Die Ergebnisse sind alarmierend, seine Entstehung aber das Resultat globaler Zusammenarbeit unzähliger engagierter Menschen aus den verschiedensten Bereichen. Wenn diese Energie nicht nur für die Bestandsaufnahme der aktuellen Probleme aufgebracht wird, sondern auch für die Sicherstellung einer lebensfreundlichen Zukunft, besteht trotz pessimistischer Schlagzeilen wie den anfangs erwähnten noch Hoffnung. Auch Ana findet: „Irgendwie hat IPBES 7 meine Hoffnung für unsere Zukunft erneuert“ und Aanu erinnert daran: „Die Politik mag uns voneinander trennen, dass wir zu allererst aber Menschen sind, sollte uns vereinen.“

The post Warnung und Hoffnung für unsere gemeinsame Zukunft: IPBES 7 appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Those are four sentences taken out from the IPBES summary for policymakers of the “Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”, the first intergovernmental report about the global state of nature, ecosystems and ecosystem services ever.
Now, the final version of the IPBES report is available and worth reading:
IPBES Global Assessment Report Summary for Policymakers

For more information about the Global Assessment Report, IPBES 7 and the attendance of around 30 GCE students, please click here:
IPBES 7 – 2019

The post Final version of the summary of the IPBES Global Assessment Report is now available appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“Human actions threaten more species with global extinction now than ever before.” (p. 11)

“Nature across most of the globe has now been significantly altered by multiple human drivers, with the great majority of indicators of ecosystems and biodiversity showing rapid decline.” (p. 11)

“Climate change is a direct driver that is increasingly exacerbating the impact of other drivers on nature and human well-being.” (p. 13)

“In the past 50 years, the human population has doubled, the global economy has grown nearly fourfold and global trade has grown tenfold, together driving up the demands for energy and materials.” (p. 13)

These sentences are some of the main messages of the recently published “summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services” of the “Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” (IPBES). IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body and supported by the UN. Its task is the scientific advice of policymakers in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Sometimes, IPBES is compared with the more well-known “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (IPCC) where scientists are supporting the policymakers in the field of climate change.
Written by scientists, the text of the summary of the global assessment report is matter-of-fact but the content is very worrying: The loss of biodiversity takes place at an alarming rate. Around 1 million of species are in danger of extinction in the coming years and decades. The current global rate of species extinction is “already at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years”. The scientists also conclude that “seventy-five per cent of the land surface is significantly altered, 66 per cent of the ocean area is experiencing increasing cumulative impacts, and over 85 per cent of wetlands (area) has been lost.”
However, the alarming sentences are the final results of a multi-annual process: According to IPBES, the report underwent a process of 3 years and was prepared by 150 experts from 50 countries. It is the first intergovernmental report about the global state of nature, ecosystems and ecosystem services ever.
The original main report comprises more than 1,000 pages which are summarised in the 39 pages of the summary for policymakers (so that everyone has the time to read the urgent main messages). However, the report needs to be adopted by the 132 member states of IPBES to become official.
Every year, the member states meet to adopt reports and/or to take further decisions. The recent seventh session of the IPBES Plenary (IPBES 7) took place at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris from Monday, 29 April to Saturday, 4 May, 2019.

Here, around 30 of us GCE students come into play. Because our master´s programme has an “observer status” during the IPBES plenaries, we students could attend the negotiations. The day before the plenary started, the stakeholders came together at the UNESCO headquarters. One could meet representatives from many different interesting organisations, for example representatives of indigenous people. I was surprised by the degree of active involvement of the indigenous people in the IPBES activities. During the stakeholder day, the documents which should be adopted at the end of the plenary session were presented. The summary of the global assessment report was not the only document but the most prominent one during IPBES 7. In addition to that, some of the most important people during IPBES 7 came on the stage like the (former) IPBES chairman Robert Watson, the Executive Secretary Anne Larigauderie or the leading authors of the global assessment report. All in all, the stakeholder day was very useful to get an overview of the coming days.
On the next day, the seventh plenary session was inaugurated. The opening started with a touching performance of young dancers who symbolised the beauty and importance of an intact nature. In my opinion, it was a statement that the older policymakers should not forget the needs of the younger generations during the negotiations. During the next days, we master students were the “youngest” people at IPBES 7. The performance was followed by some speeches like a speech given by François de Rugy, the French environment minister.
In the evening, there was a reception at the National Museum of Natural History. I think it was a good plan of the organisers to start the first day with the impressive dancing performance and to finish it in a museum with dining next to a multitude of exhibited animals. The animals were showing the beauty of diversity and symbolised the final call to take actions to prevent that museums will become the last “habitats” of those species.

In the following days, IPBES 7 worked in different groups on different issues and documents. I mainly joined the working group on the global assessment report. The process was the following: Every sentence of the summary for policymakers had to be approved. To do so, the respective paragraph was projected on the screen. One of the scientific authors presented the respective paragraph and explained what was modified compared to the previous version (before the plenary session, the member states could submit requests for modifications). Subsequently, the delegates of the member states had the chance to propose modifications for the current working document. The chairman had the task to lead the discussions and to find compromises and the present authors answered questions and paid attention that the modified sentences were scientifically acceptable. The discussions continued up to the point where every delegation could accept the respective sentence. This means in practice that the discussions about some sentences and paragraphs took hours. If the parties could not find a compromise, a so called “friends of the chair” group was formed. Every interested delegation could participate in the “friends of the chair” (which usually met during the official breaks) and negotiate up to the point where everyone could agree to the compromise.
Already after the first paragraph, the working group was behind schedule. The delay became worse and worse. With increasing delay, the chairman became more and more worried and tried to speed up the negotiations. Interestingly, mostly the same countries piped up whereas other delegations did not say anything. The summary of the global assessment report had to be approved by Saturday at 18.00 o´clock at the latest. In the meantime, I was afraid that the negotiations will not succeed. If the global assessment report had not been approved, it would have been a big setback for the scientists and stakeholders involved, for IPBES and especially for the protection of biodiversity. However, looking back, I guess the lack of time is common in international negotiations. Shortage of time increases pressure on everyone. Because of the pressure, “friends of the chair” groups were formed more often, the chairman became stricter and the negotiations were extended into the night at the end.
Fortunately, the concluding plenary session could approve the summary of the global assessment report on Saturday. A big applause and gladness was the result.

I have learned a lot in Paris during the week. Now, I am reading sentences like the cited ones at the beginning of this article in a different way. Now, I understand better that every sentence is the result of hard work of scientists and policymakers from all over the world and that every written word as well as missing word has a very specific and deliberate meaning. Now, I understand why some sentences sound circuitous because they are the results of compromises (I tried to avoid to cite those sentences at the beginning).
In addition to that, I have learned how IPBES by itself and how international negotiations in general are working. The idea to bring scientists and stakeholders together with policymakers seems to be very promising. My impression was that the people working for IPBES are very friendly and motivated to protect biodiversity. It was unique that we master students could attend the plenary session where the global assessment report was adopted. The report was the main news in media and it could become the foundation for new international measures to protect biodiversity. By itself, the report has no direct political consequences but because of its approval of 132 countries, the scientific information about the worsening of the state of our global biodiversity is internationally accepted now and politics cannot ignore it anymore. Currently, a new UN framework agreement for biological diversity is prepared which shall be adopted in 2020. Now, the decisive question is: How will politics, the society and every individual person respond to that? For me, IPBES 7 stands for huge concerns but also for hope at the same time. Both, a failure but also a change is still possible. It depends on everyone of us, which direction future will go.
The IPCC reports influenced our awareness of climate change and forced politicians to react. Thanks to the mainly young people of the “Fridays for Future” movement, climate change is rightly one of the most prominent topics these days. However, besides an appropriate climate, humans also depend on biodiversity and the ecosystem services. Climate change and the rapid decline of biodiversity are two of the most urgent problems of the 21^st century.
The global assessment report of IPBES is helping to raise our awareness of the need to protect biodiversity. Now, we should take advantage of this momentum, move forward and orient our behaviour on the insight that we need “Biodiversity for Future”!

The post IPBES 7: How to express the proceeding catastrophe? appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

The post One conference – 132 languages? appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

The most resonating messages from this case study of inclusion of ILK in policy application were on:

1. THE FORM OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSMISSION: The speakers emphasized the disparity in knowledge transfer for policy and local knowledge. They shared that quite often ILK captures long-term trends of nature and the way it relates to its people, but it is shared through spoken word. Thus, “these languages that hold a bulk of the knowledge on nature and its governance isn’t written down”. The panel stressed the importance of policy makers and other actors who want to incorporate ILK to go in person to these places, to talk to the local experts. In an encouraging aside, one speaker said that “knowledge holders do well when they speak to each other” (being careful of power dynamics and political contexts and etc.). Thus, environmental policy would benefit from experts being physically present in the communities they refer to and to learn from the experts embedded within.
2. THE SCOPE OF INCLUSION: In congruence with the idea of knowledge transfer from local communities to inform research and policy, the recognition of these inputs for science-policy requires more than an acknowledgement in the contributions section of the published papers. One suggestion made was to make the local experts or indigenous community members who contributed also contributing authors on the manuscript. This would allow for more equitable recognition in academia of the contributions of local and traditional knowledge holders. It is truly important to also be mindful of when in the process and how the holders of ILK are included.
3. THE SCALE OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING: A participant in the panel questioned whether this approach of incorporating ILK into science-policy research is scale-able. Her answer was met with a conditional yes. The panel agreed that when indigenous institutions function, meaning when the local governance is supportive and when the knowledge is actively managed, these forms of knowledge inclusion work. These lessons are valuable for those who hope to include ILK perspectives.
4. SUCCESS OF BOTTOM-UP APPROACHES: Though not a new finding in the socio-political realm, I think it deserves repeating that these researchers also found that projects seeking to include ILK perspectives had more success when coming from the community, presenting their needs and concerns to be translated to policy, not when being prescribed from policy makers top down.

The validation and inclusion of indigenous and local knowledge is a vast and sensitive topic but crucial of ethical environmental policy. It was inspiring to hear from experts who have taken this approach to disseminate the results of the Pollinator Assessment Report. This side event was captivating to hear from the panel as well as attendees who offered perspective from their own communities and work experience. It was a nice contrast to the large and formal deliberations going on in the plenary hall, which are incredibly important but need to be actualized by people in communities and this was a prime example of how that may be done. It certainly made me hopeful to see and participate in more inclusive and empowering collaborations among science, policy and people.

More information (external link):
https://swed.bio/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/7017-0033-SRC-Report-Pollinators-dialouge_WEB.pdf

Title photo:
IPBES

The post Perspective from outside the Plenary: On the practical applications of IPBES Assessments appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

+++ IPBES-7 Day 6 (04-05-19) +++
Today, the final IPBES 7 day took place. Obviously, for some delegates it was a pretty short night. Today´s time was restricted because the conference had to be finished by 18.00 o´clock at the latest. At around 09.30 o´clock, Dr. Axel Paulsch, first chair of the “Institute of Biodiversity”, answered our questions and gave us some explanations.
At 10.00 o´clock, the working group on the Global Assessment Report started to discuss about how to deal with the knowledge gaps. Afterwards, there was a break to upload the final updated documents.
The concluding plenary session started at around 11.30 o´clock. The report “Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” was approved which resulted in big applause. The report will be presented to the public on the upcoming Monday. The importance of the report was emphasized and the scientists involved were thanked. After that, Cristiana Pașca Palmer, the Executive Secretary of CBD (“Convention on Biological Diversity”) gave a speech. Then, the documents “Work programme of IPBES up to 2030”, “Financial and Budgetary Arrangements” and “Organization of Work and Dates and Venues of Future Sessions of the Plenary” were discussed and finally adopted. Afterwards, different nominations and elections were hold. At the end, closing speeches were given and thanks were addressed to many people involved, especially to the IPBES Chair Robert Watson, whose term of office ends today. Finally, Mr Watson gave his humours farewell speech. At around 15.00 o´clock, IPBES 7 was over.
I was surprised and relieved that, finally, all the important documents could be adopted. During the first days, the progress seemed to be pretty slow but, probably, to be short of time is necessary for international negotiations to find compromises. It is great that we GCE students could attend the seventh session where the “Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” report was discussed and adopted. The Global Assessment Report is seen as a “milestone” in the field of biodiversity and, for sure, will come along with us also in the future.
The current state of biodiversity on our earth is investigated and international accepted now. Now, the decisive question is: How will politics, the society and every individual person respond to that? “We did not know that …” does not work anymore since at least the adoption of the report.
For me, IPBES 7 stands for huge concerns but also for hope at the same time. Both, a failure but also a change is still possible. It depends on everyone of us, which direction the future will go.

Written by Valentin Lang (GCE student)

+++ IPBES-7 Day 5 (03-05-19) +++   
Today was the second to the last day of IPBES 7. The GCEs and the study program coordinator Dr. Stephanie Thomas participated in IPBES 7 together. The team split and joined parallel sessions and events according to the respective interests. I focused myself on Working Group I (WG I). As always, the chair started the session with a brief recap and with information on the progress achieved in previous sessions and from the respective contact groups (so called “friends of the chair”). Meantime, the chair also admired the flexibility shown from the delegates and was hoping that the meeting would achieve good progress today too.
The session started with an intensive analysis and with negotiations to further clarify the background document. Compared to the key messages for policy-makers, the background document seemed to get good agreement at the start but went to very intensive discussions on certain issues. The delegates fruitfully criticized wordings and the authors (“CLA”) tried to clarify the questions and concerns raised from the delegates, which significantly contributed to get a well-accepted document. The WG I morning session today was concentrated on biodiversity conservation, sustainable use and management of biodiversity and on land management. Some issues got intensive debates and went for long discussions and were assigned to the “friends of the chair”. “Food production and bio energy”, “Food consumption”, “Human and non-human rights”, “Food waste”, ”Economic model”, “Animal trade”, “Transparent or effective monitoring”, “Use of genetic materials” were the most debated topics today in WG I.
In my opinion, active and creative interventions in such a platform do not only help the world to understand the major issues and problems of the respective region, but also can significantly contribute to evolve new ideas and knowledge. However, I feel the majority of the countries didn’t utilize this opportunity, which is quite confusing for me. I think at the same time not only in policy formation but also empowerment of the members is equally necessary to recognize the issues and problems. Otherwise, the result would be harder to obtain even with a well-accepted final document.

Written by Ram Sharan Devkota (GCE student)

+++ IPBES-7 Day 4 (02-05-19) +++
This day, three different contact groups were working in parallel: “Global Assessment”, “Review” and “Budget”. In addition, a separate contact group was formed to discuss the “Figures of the Summary for Policymakers of the Global Assessment”. The interests of the GCE students have mainly divided between two of the mentioned topics (see below), while the budget group remains closed to the observers.
“Global Assessment” focused on the key messages that refer to the conservation of nature, its restoration and sustainable use. The rate of approval, however, remains low, requiring at times 1.5 hours to approve several sentences. On the positive note, with some additional time being spent in the concluding days, the initial agenda items are expected to be covered.
The thematic focus of the contact group “Figures of the Summary for Policymakers of the Global Assessment” included, among others, the increase and decline in ecosystem services, a range of direct and indirect drivers of change, species biodiversity and extinction. Among the most discussed issues was the language that should be used in order to make it more understandable for the policy-makers. Numbers, indicators and references, as well as time-scale indication of the changes conveyed and the extent of detail were the topics addressed by the contact group.
By the end of the day, some issues remain a concern: the degree of detail that should be contained in the key messages and the pace of the negotiations progress. This, in turn poses a number of questions with regard to the global agreement among countries, while ensuring that their national interests are met.

Written by Daria Gettueva (GCE student)

+++ IPBES-7 Day 3 (01-05-19) +++
In the morning, we had a pre-meeting with Dr. Axel Paulsch who answered our questions that had come up during the previous day.
At 10 a.m., the plenary session started which was dedicated to organizational issues and a report on the progress of the working groups.
After the plenary session, the working group 1 “Review of the Global Assessment“ continued its work with the Summary for Policy Makers of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. In parallel, the budget group met. The budget group was closed for observers, so all GCE students listened to the discussions about the Global Assessment. It is surprising for me that the delegates have so many interventions regarding the phrasing. It is interesting to experience how difficult it is to come to a consensus even if countries coincide in the general content of the report.
In the afternoon, most GCE students joined the session addressing the second work program of IPBES. Delegates of different countries and organizations presented general interventions and supports. These statements were followed by a discussion about the specific content, priorities and directions of the program. A draft version was reviewed paragraph by paragraph. Simultaneously, the first working group continued its work on the Global Assessment.
It is another day full of intensive and exciting discussions.

Written by Phil Garthen (GCE student)

+++ IPBES-7 Day 2 (30-04-19) +++
‘Steps for a change’ was the name of the opening performance yesterday. The report of IPBES hopefully will be a huge step for conserving biodiversity in future. However, today it seems like everyone was taking just very small steps …
Today was the first day when the IPBES plenary worked in two different working groups. One was dealing with the Global Assessment Report and the other one was reviewing IPBES.
Within the Global Assessment Report group, the key-messages of the summary for policymakers were projected on screen. The leading authors presented the different paragraphs and the already included comments. After that, the delegates of the member states got the chance to propose changes such as specific wording, structure and clarity. Thereby, experts payed close attention on the technical possibility of the alteration. Thereafter, the delegates again had the chance to accept the sentences or to suggest further changes. Only if none of the delegates had any objections the paragraph was confirmed and it was possible to get on to the next one.
With 132 members states it seems natural that a lot of changes are proposed. Thus, it was very challenging to find a solution that everyone could agree on. Some negotiations seemed to run in circles and often got back to previous wording.
Nevertheless, it was really interesting to follow this process, to get to know the different standpoints of the member states, to feel the frustration about the slow progress and at the same time the hope for a report that really is a step for a change.

Written by Cara Schulte (GCE student)

+++ IPBES-7 Day 1 (29-04-19) +++
The first day of the IPBES 7 conference was dedicated to officially kick off the conference. All GCE students joined the event from the morning on, which started with an inspirational performance of young dancers and was followed by welcome speeches held by the chair and secretary of IPBES. Raising their voices, also many parties and representatives of related organizations formed summaries of the past work and welcomed the seventh plenary session. This first session in 2019 started by introducing and moving along in the agenda which includes in particular the election of a new bureau and chair, transparency for observers, a report on the first work programme (2014-2018), setting up relevant working groups for IPBES 7, review of IPBES first work programme and organizational matters of the plenary.
This opening session was rounded by the formation of the first working group targeting the Global Assessment Report launched soon and an opening ceremony and reception at the National Museum of Natural History.
I believe this day covered a lot of obligatory agenda points and set the base for open discussion among the parties on the further items.

Written by Leyla Sungur (GCE student)

+++ IPBES-7 Stakeholder Day (28-04-19) +++
On Sunday, the Stakeholder Day of IPBES 7 was held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. For us GCE students this was the first day and involved getting to know the building and schedule for the upcoming week. We spent the day listening to several talks about stakeholder engagement and the global assessment. Some of us also took part in a networking-lunch about the IPBES work-programme while talking to other stakeholders and experts.
For myself the stakeholder day was a good introduction into the IPBES 7 conference. It created a nice overview and cleared some questions about how specific sessions will work. Especially, the interactive “Menti”-sessions were a lot of fun because everybody was able to participate and express his/her opinion. Today also showed that IPBES is a familiar atmosphere which gives us great opportunities to get in contact with other people.
Overall, I can say that I am extremely excited for the upcoming week with new experiences and impressions. Special thanks to GCE, Bayceer and the ENB (“Elitenetzwerk Bayern”) for making this experience possible for me!

Written by Alexander Lentge (GCE student)

The post Diary: GCE at IPBES-7 (29-04-19 to 04-05-19) appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Once a year, the plenary of IPBES meets with observers and stakeholders in a plenary session for a new assessment. The plenary is the governing body of IPBES, the highest decision-making body and consists of the member states (NeFo, ValuES: The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)). The member states can make requests which determine what research will be synthesized for the next assessments. The resulting assessment reports include scientific findings, key messages, and policy recommendations (IPBES: An Introduction to IPBES).
At the 7^th plenary session in Paris, a new “Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” will be presented to the representatives of the member states for consideration of approval. The report will be discussed and finalized and is supposed to inform better policies and actions in the coming decade. It will be the first global assessment of the state of nature, ecosystems and nature’s contributions to people since the landmark Millennium Assessment in 2005 (IPBES: Global Assessment Preview).

Written by Carolin Schaum (GCE student)

References
IPBES. About. https://www.ipbes.net/about. Accessed April 26, 2019.

IPBES. An Introduction to IPBES. http://www.biodiversity.de/sites/default/files/day1_vdplaat_what_is_ipbes_basic_presentation_0.pdf. Accessed April 24, 2019.

IPBES. IPBES Global Assessment Preview. Introducing IPBES’ 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service. First global biodiversity assessment since 2005. https://www.ipbes.net/news/ipbes-global-assessment-preview. Accessed April 26, 2019.

Network-Forum for Biodiversity Research Germany, ValuES. Brochure: The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). A brief introduction for scientists, policy makers, and practitioners. http://www.biodiversity.de/sites/default/files/products/reports/nefo_giz_values_eng_2_ansicht_0.pdf. Accessed April 24, 2019, pp. 1-20.

Title image: by Chris Karidis on Unsplash

The post GCE at IPBES7 in Paris appeared first on Global Change Ecology.