Regional Assessments

Deliverable 2(b): Regional/subregional assessments on biodiversity and ecosystem services

IPBES is to perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services and their interlinkages at regional and subregional levels. Under this deliverable (2b) the Platform will prepare a set of regional and subregional assessments. In January 2015 the third session of the Plenary approved the launch of four regional assessments – namely for Africa, for the Americas, for Asia Pacific, and for Europe and Central Asia – together with a general scope common to all of these regional assessments, the geographical scope of each of the proposed regions, and regional specificities.

The overall scope of the regional assessments is to assess the status and trends regarding biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services and their interlinkages, the impact of biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services and threats to them on good quality of life, and the effectiveness of responses, including the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity. The assessments will address terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services. The overall objective of the regional assessments is to strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services at the regional and subregional level