Essex Biodiversity Project

An international meeting has given the green light to the formation of a global "science policy" panel on biodiversity and ecosystem services to "bridge the gulf" between scientific research and urgent political action needed to halt biodiversity loss. The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will carry out peer reviews of scientific literature in order to provide governments with "gold standard" reports. It is expected that the IPBES will be modelled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which plays a major role in shaping global climate policy, and is expected to be formally endorsed in 2011.

More than 230 delegates from 85 nations backed the proposals at a five-day UN meeting in Busan, South Korea. The meeting's chairman Chan-Woo Kim, director-general of South Korea's environment ministry, said the "historic agreement" laid the foundations for a full scientific assessment of the challenges facing the world.

"The essence of this vision is to ensure environmental sustainability while pursuing development," he explained. For this to be realised, it is crucial to have a credible, legitimate and policy-relevant understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem services."

The idea to establish the IPBES followed the publication of the UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005, which concluded that human activities threatened the Earth's ability to sustain future generations.

Abridged from BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10307761.stm