IIFBES background information

Background information

Since the inception of IPBES, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have coordinated their support and engagement to the work programme of the platform. As well as supporting the development of deliverables specifically aimed at enhancing work with Indigenous and local knowledge, they also supported the development and adoption by the third IPBES plenary of deliverable 4(d) the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy, which further recognized their important role and contribution to the process, as part of the “policies and procedures” of the platform (IPBES/3/18, Annex II: Communications, stakeholder engagement and strategic partnership, p105). 

To assist IPBES in its responsibility to implement the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy, the third IPBES plenary encouraged “the self organization of an inclusive, open-ended network of stakeholders”. As a result, members of Indigenous Peoples and local communities decided to form a self-organized network (IIFBES) to better coordinate and facilitate their participation in, and benefits from, IPBES.