Online conference to seek input for the scoping process for the nexus assessment

Event type: Task force

Date:

Monday, 30 September, 2019 - Wednesday, 02 October, 2019

Welcome to this IPBES online conference!

Purpose and outcome

This online conference represents an innovation for IPBES. Its purpose is to seek the broadest possible input (scientists and other knowledge holders, representatives of Governments, and of institutions and organisations, etc.), at this very initial phase in the production of an IPBES assessment, to define the policy-relevant questions that the assessment will address, and to thus make the assessment as relevant as possible to a diversity of stakeholders. The purpose is not to define the structure at this early stage, nor the set of chapters, but to collect the policy-relevant questions that stakeholders would like to see addressed by the assessment.

The outcome of this online conference will consist in a report which will be presented to the group of scoping experts at their meeting and contribute to the scoping report which these experts will draft.

Process

The Plenary, at IPBES 7 (April-May 2019, Paris), adopted a new work programme (2019-2030; available here), following up on the first IPBES work programme 2014-2018, which culminated with the approval of the IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at IPBES 7.

This new work programme includes a thematic assessment to examine the strong interlinkages among the sustainable development goals related to food and water security, health for all, protecting biodiversity on land and in the oceans and combating and adapting to climate change.

The first step in the production of this assessment, as for all IPBES assessments, consists in defining the scope of the assessment, including the overall framework, set of chapters, and their brief content, and a timeline and budget for its production. This will be done at a “scoping meeting”. The “scoping report” produced at that meeting will be considered by the Plenary at IPBES 8.

This pre-scoping online conference forms part of the scoping process and contributes to the scoping report.

Agenda

This on-line conference took place over 3 days, from Monday 30 September (Day 1), to Wednesday 2 October 2019 (Day 3). The work was divided into 3 parts, based on the figure shown below, with day 1 focusing on water and linkages (blue), day 2 on health and linkages (orange), and day 3 on food and linkages (green).

Each part began with an introductory talk (15 mn), followed by a moderated oral exchange (2 hours), ending with a period of about 24 hours for written contributions.

All times are Central European Time

Day 1 (Monday 30 September 2019): Introduction and topic 1 (water)

Time	Item
14.00–14.15	Overall briefing for the 3 days: Dr. Anne Larigauderie, IPBES Executive Secretary Introduction on IPBES Achievements of the first work programme (2014-2018) The new work programme (2019-2030) Introduction to the online conference
Topic 1: Water and linkages
14.15-14.30	1.1 Introductory talk: Luthando Dziba, South African National Parks (SANParks) Purpose: One expert introduced the topic, and outlined some of the key issues that the assessment could address, in order to initiate the discussion.
14.30-16.30	1.2 Oral exchange Participants, following the talk, were invited by the speaker, who moderated the exchange, to react to its content, and to reflect on the following question, with an emphasis on solutions rather than on impacts: What are in your opinion the most important questions that should be addressed by the nexus assessment under topic 1: Synergies, co-benefits and trade-offs regarding water, biodiversity, and climate change; water and food; water and health?
16.30-until noon on Day 2	1.3 Online contributions Participants were invited to send, between 16.30 and noon the next day, short and punchy written contributions, to complement this oral exchange, further addressing the question outlined above. Click here to view the online forum

Day 2 (Tuesday 1 October 2019): Topic 2 (health)

Topic 2: Health and linkages
14.30-14.45	2.1 Introductory talk: Dr. Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance Purpose: One expert introduced the topic, and outline some of the key issues that the assessment could address, in order to initiate the discussion.
14.45-16.45	2.2 Oral exchange Participants, following the talk, were invited by the speaker, who moderated the exchange, to react to its content, and to reflect on the following question, with an emphasis on solutions rather than on impacts: What are in your opinion the most important questions that should be addressed by the nexus assessment under topic 2: Synergies, co-benefits and trade-offs regarding health, biodiversity, and climate change; health and food; health and water (complementing day 1's discussion)?
16.45-noon on Day 3	2.3 Online contributions Participants were invited to send, between 16.45 and noon the next day, short and punchy written contributions, to complement this oral exchange, further addressing the question outlined above. Click here to view the online forum

Day 3 (Wednesday 2 October 2019): Topic 3 (food)

Topic 3: Food and linkages
14.00-14.15	3.1 Introductory talk: Ana Paula Dutra De Aguiar, Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE)/Stockholm Resilience Centre Purpose: One expert introduced the topic, and outlined some of the key issues that the assessment could address, in order to initiate the discussion.
14.15-16.15	3.2 Oral exchange Participants, following the talk, were invited by the speaker, who moderated the exchange, to react to its content, and to reflect on the following question, with an emphasis on solutions rather than on impacts: What are in your opinion the most important questions that should be addressed by the nexus assessment, under topic 3: Synergies, co-benefits and trade-offs regarding food, biodiversity, and climate change; food and water (complementing day 1's discussion); and food and health (complementing day 2's discussion)? Participants were also be invited to indicate any links between food, water and health that might not have been flagged in the discussion so far.
16.15 until noon on 3rd October	3.3 Online contributions Participants were invited to send, between 16.15 and noon the next day, short and punchy written contributions, to complement this oral exchange, further addressing the question outlined above. Click here to view the online forum

Recordings

	Webinar	Forum	Presentation
Water and linkages	Recording of introductory presentations	Day 1 forum	Anne Larigauderie Luthando Dziba
Health and linkages	Recording of introductory presentations	Day 2 forum	Anne Larigauderie Peter Daszak
Food and linkages	Recording of introductory presentations	Day 3 forum	Ana Paula Aguiar