On Friday 1 March 2024, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, established the Technical Support Unit (TSU) for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Task Force on Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The TSU will be located in IGES Tokyo Sustainability Forum (TSF).
The IPBES Task Force on Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is a group of experts established to provide advice and support on scenarios and modelling for various IPBES assessment processes, including the implementation of a programme on scenarios that predict possible future situations for biodiversity and the models used to develop them. IGES expects the task force to provide the scientific information needed to assess progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the global biodiversity target for 2030.
IGES previously hosted the IPBES TSU for the Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific and the TSU for the Assessment of Invasive Alien Species and their control, and provided support to develop assessment reports. Based on these experiences, IGES has once again been entrusted by the government of Japan to host the IPBES TSU, making IGES the only organisation in the Asia-Pacific region to take on this role.
Established in 2012, IPBES (Secretariat: Bonn, Germany) is an international organisation with 145 participating countries and is known as the 'biodiversity version of the IPCC'. With four main functions - scientific assessment, capacity building, knowledge generation and policy-making support, as an intergovernmental platform for clarifying the current status of global biodiversity and ecosystem services, changes and their drivers, and their impact on humanity, IPBES conducts scientific analysis and evaluation and makes policy recommendations based on the research of scientists from around the world.
IPBES website: https://www.ipbes.net/