Second author meeting of the IPBES assessment of invasive alien species and their control

From 30 November to 7 December 2020, IPBES convened the second author meeting for the assessment of invasive alien species, and which also represented the first ever fully virtual author meeting in the history of IPBES.

In the IPBES Global Assessment Report, invasive alien species have been identified as one of the five main direct drivers of biodiversity loss at the global level. About 90 experts from more than 40 countries, carefully selected to encompass all regions and expertise, participated in assessing the current status and trends of invasive alien species and their impacts, and providing policy-relevant options to promote effective invasive alien species management and adaptation strategies.

Following the first author meeting held in Tsukuba, Japan in August 2019, the external review of the first order draft of the chapters took place from 31 August to 18 October 2020, allowing comments from interested and qualified external reviewers.

During the recent eight-day online meeting, the expert group discussed and addressed comments from the first external review, started developing the second order draft, and agreed on responsibilities and a timeline of activities towards production of the report. Building on the meeting outputs, the expert group will further develop the second order draft of the chapters and the first order draft of the summary for policymakers (SPM) in the coming months. The final draft will be presented at the tenth session of the IPBES Plenary, for consideration by representatives from more than 130 member states. 

The meeting was organized by the IPBES technical support unit for the assessment of invasive alien species, hosted by IGES at its Tokyo Sustainable Forum, and supported by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.