IPBES youth workshop 2022 (19-23 October 2022)

Selection criteria for participants
The youth workshop will bring together 25 participants, with five participants from each of the UN regions (Africa, Asia and Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, Western Europe and others).
Successful candidates need to:

  • Be between 18-30 years of age;
  • Be actively engaged in relevant work on biodiversity and ecosystem services, including in work relevant to the two reports approved by IPBES 9 (values assessment, and sustainable use of wild species assessment);
  • Be nominated by a government or an organization/network with a letter of recommendation in support of the nomination;
  • Be committed to participate in person in the youth workshop.  Participants are expected to actively contribute to the workshop and to report on its outcome and on the work of IPBES to their home institutions and other relevant organizations;
  • Have very good speaking, reading and writing skills in English as the workshop will be held in English;
  • Have demonstrated ability to respectfully interact with people from other disciplines and work effectively and efficiently in a multicultural team.

Application and nomination process
The application process consists of two steps:

  1. Candidates are invited to complete the application form through the dedicated web portal at: https://ipbes.net/application/youth_workshop_2022 (to access this page you will need to log in with your IPBES website login credentials. Candidates not yet registered on the IPBES website will need to do so at https://ipbes.net/user/register. Please note that the application form is in English only;
  2. The nominating Government, organization or institution indicated by the candidate will receive an email with a link to the nomination form and will be invited to approve and submit the nomination in the web portal. 

Interested candidates are requested to fill out their application form by 10 August 2022. Nominators are invited to approve the application by 17 August 2022.

UPDATE: The deadline for nominations has been extended to 21 August 2022.

1. Online application by the candidates

  • As part of the online application, candidates will have to submit a letter of motivation stating:
  • A brief introduction to the candidate's past and ongoing engagement in topics related to biodiversity and ecosystem services within and outside the nominating organization and the candidate's motivation for this involvement
  • The candidate's relevant network (organizations, individuals etc.) and expertise that the youth workshop's other participants could benefit from
  • A short and personal description why the candidate wishes to participate in the workshop, what they can contribute to it, and how they and their organization/network could benefit from it personally and professionally
  • Any information that demonstrates abilities expected from successful candidates listed above

2. Online nomination process by Governments, organizations and networks (nominators)

Governments, and youth organizations and networks engaged in work on biodiversity and ecosystem services can nominate a candidate with the qualifications set out above (in section " Successful candidates need to") to participate in the youth workshop. Youth organizations and networks can nominate more than one candidate from their own organization/network, but only one candidate can be nominated per UN region (i.e. a maximum of 5 candidates per nominating organization). Nominators have to provide a nomination letter  for each candidate. This letter has to be signed by the national focal point or head of the candidate's youth organization, and should state specific reasons why the candidate is being nominated and address the following points:

  • Brief information on the work of the candidate's organization/network in supporting engagement of younger generations in biodiversity and ecosystem services related topics;
  • The candidate’s role and contributions (past and ongoing) in its youth organization/network; 
  • How the candidate's youth organization/network will benefit its participation in the youth workshop;
  • How the nominator will facilitate and support the successful applicant in sharing their experience from the IPBES youth workshop within the organization/network.

The selection process
Suitable candidates are selected by the management committee of the IPBES capacity-building task force, based on the above-mentioned criteria with a view to achieving disciplinary, gender and geographic balance. All candidates will be notified of the results via email by the technical support unit on capacity-building.

Support
Support for travel, meals, and accommodation will be provided to all participants by the Governments of Germany and Norway.

Organizers
The workshop is organized under the auspices of the IPBES capacity-building task force with contributions from the fellows and task force on scenarios and models. The workshop is funded by the Governments of Germany and Norway. 

Previous IPBES youth workshops
You can find a report from the IPBES youth workshop 2019 here and an article on its outcomes here.

Questions and further information
Please contact the IPBES technical support unit at [email protected] if you have any questions.