REMINDER: Invitation to Members and Observers (States not members of IPBES) to the ninth session of IPBES Plenary (#IPBES9)

Dear IPBES Members and Observers (States not members of IPBES),

I have the honor to invite you to participate in the ninth session of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 9), which is planned to be held from 3 to 9 July 2022 in Bonn, Germany.

Regional consultations and a Stakeholder Day are planned to be organized on 2 July 2022. The ninth session of the Plenary will be opened on Sunday, 3 July 2022, at 10 a.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST). The session is scheduled to close on Saturday, 9 July 2022. An invitation has been sent by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Secretary of Governing Bodies to all Ministers for Environment of all States Members of the United Nations (UN) or Members of specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to all Permanent Representatives to the UNEP, as well as to the Permanent missions to the UN. An invitation letter addressed to observer organizations will be issued shortly.

The provisional agenda for the ninth session of the Plenary is available on the IPBES website at https://ipbes.net/events/ipbes-9.

IPBES Members and Observers are invited to upload official communication containing the names of the members of their delegations for confirmation of their registration as soon as possible, and no later than 20 May 2022 through the online platform at https://ipbes.net/ipbes-9/nomination-letters-and-credentials.

In addition, each member of the delegation is requested to complete the online registration form at https://ipbes.net/ipbes-9/registration, as soon as possible, and no later than 27 May 2022. It is not possible for one member of the delegation to register other members of the delegation. Please kindly note that an IPBES user account is required to complete the registration form. A user account can be created at https://ipbes.net/user/register.

Please note that a separate registration is required for Stakeholder Day on https://ipbes.net/ipbes-9/registration-stakeholder-day. Registration for Stakeholder Day does not grant access to the ninth session of the IPBES Plenary.

In line with the rules of procedure for sessions of the IPBES Plenary, and practice at previous sessions, each IPBES Member is required to submit official credentials of its representatives, together with the names of alternate representatives and advisers, to the IPBES secretariat. The credentials must be issued either by the Head of State or Government or by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, consistent with each country’s policy and law. Observers are not required to submit credentials. A scanned copy of the credentials, containing the names of representatives to the ninth session of the IPBES, should be submitted by one member of the delegation by 15 June 2022 through the online platform at https://ipbes.net/ipbes-9/nomination-letters-and-credentials. The original hard copy of the credentials should be sent to the IPBES secretariat by mail at the latest by 15 June 2022 or handed to the secretariat at the registration desk by 4 July 2022.

I also take this opportunity to invite IPBES Members and Observers that have not designated a national focal point responsible for liaising with the IPBES secretariat to do so by filling the online form and submitting a nomination letter at https://ipbes.net/form/national_focal_point_designation-government. The list of existing national focal points is available at https://ipbes.net/national-focal-points.

In closing, I would also like to invite any Government in a position to do so, to consider hosting the eleventh session of the Plenary, scheduled to be held in 2024. Governments interested in hosting the eleventh session of the Plenary are invited to send an email to: [email protected].

I thank you again for your continued support of IPBES.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Anne Larigauderie | Executive Secretary