From 21 to 23 October, IGES, the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), and the University of Tokyo Institute for Future Initiative will co-organise the “Science-Policy Dialogues on the Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Southeast Asia & Northeast Asia”, in Bangkok. This workshop is funded by the Japan Biodiversity Fund (JBF), through the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The workshop is part of a series of sub-regional processes to disseminate output from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). IGES has hosted the IPBES technical support unit for the Asia-Pacific Regional Assessment since 2015, and contributed to producing its Assessment Report in 2018. In addition, through collaboration with the University of Tokyo and other research institutes in Japan, IGES also conducted a strategic research and development project, “Predicting and Assessing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services” (PANCES), to support science-based policy making and its implementation worldwide. Based on these experiences, IGES will facilitate the sharing of lessons learned from the national assessments on biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as relevant research and policy processes in Japan.
The objectives of the workshop are as follows:
(1) Discuss current issues and the challenges of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Northeast and Southeast Asian countries;
(2) Share guidance and experiences on undertaking a national assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services, drawing on IPBES and the PANCES project;
(3) Explore challenges and opportunities in the process of carrying out a national assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and its contribution to policy and decision-making processes; and
(4) Facilitate understanding of the findings of the IPBES Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific, including policy options to mitigate the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the region.
Updates on the workshop will be provided via the IGES Twitter account (@iges_en), and a report will be published on the IGES website in the near future.