CREAF Participates in IPBES's First Plenary in Africa

CREAF and the Observatory of Biodiversity and Natural Heritage of Catalonia have attended the 11th plenary session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), held for the first time in Africa (Windhoek, Namibia) from December 10 to 16. This meeting brings together representatives from nearly 150 governments and some of the world's most renowned biodiversity experts to discuss the challenges of biodiversity loss and ecosystem service degradation on a global scale.

CREAF participated as an official observer organization of IPBES, highlighting the importance of this forum as an essential space for connecting the scientific and political worlds and fostering informed and effective decisions for nature conservation.

Representing CREAF, Alicia Pérez-Porro, Head of Political Interaction and Institutional Relations at CREAF, and Dani Villero, a researcher at CREAF, traveled to Namibia. The plenary also featured CREAF researcher and Scientific Coordinator of the Observatory of Biodiversity and Natural Heritage, Lluís Brotons, as an IPBES expert.

Brotons’ participation in IPBES is channeled primarily through the Task Force on Scenarios and Models, an official working group aimed at enhancing the use of these approaches in IPBES activities. “The Scenarios and Models Task Force plays a key role in catalyzing new methodologies, such as the Nature Futures Framework, which enables the development of scenarios where nature is a priority. We also work to establish bridges between IPBES and other international platforms like the IPCC, a vital connection for the future of global environmental policies,” explains Brotons. This activity is also part of the Severo Ochoa project objectives, which aim to strengthen CREAF's role in the use and development of scenarios and models to support global environmental policies.

Additionally, CREAF has been working for a year on the RESPIN project, co-coordinated by Brotons and Pérez-Porro, to transform the knowledge from IPBES and IPCC into tangible policy changes, making their presence at these plenary sessions crucial. The RESPIN consortium also has the mandate to advise the European Union delegation during IPBES negotiations. “RESPIN is a workspace focused on the assessments of IPBES and IPCC, aiming to ensure these scientific evaluations and recommendations reach national and subnational policies. Thus, following the presentation of the two new assessments is key to considering their subsequent translation for decision-makers,” says Pérez-Porro from Namibia.

Among the central topics of the plenary were two new IPBES assessment reports that could have a transformative impact:

• The Nexus Assessment: examines the interconnections between biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate crises and proposes integrated solutions with cross-cutting benefits. For example, regenerative agriculture combines techniques to increase food production with soil conservation, improved water quality, and reduced carbon emissions, contributing to biodiversity and greater food sustainability and climate resilience.
• The Transformative Change Assessment: aims to understand and identify factors in human society, both individual and collective, including behavioral, social, cultural, economic, institutional, technical, and technological dimensions, that can be leveraged to promote transformative changes for the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of biodiversity while considering broader social and economic goals within the context of sustainable development. One example could be green city models like Copenhagen, which integrates nature into urban infrastructures, such as parks with controlled flood zones or investments in sustainable mobility.

Brotons highlights the relevance of IPBES assessments: “The Nexus Assessment analyzes the links between biodiversity and other key sectors. This will be crucial for strengthening these connections and proposing solutions to biodiversity loss beyond nature conservation, involving sectors like agriculture, water management, or health. Meanwhile, the Transformative Change Assessment seeks to go beyond diagnostics and aims to identify concrete examples of social and economic changes that place nature at the center.”

The scope of a new global assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services, a continuation of the 2019 global report that warned of the extinction risk of one million species, was also discussed.
 

Dr. David Obura, Chair of IPBES and the first African to hold this position, stated: “#IPBES11 is crucial to informing policies that support biodiversity and ensure sustainable and just futures for people and nature. I am grateful for Namibia's hospitality in hosting this historic plenary.”

Namibia’s Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, emphasized the need for integrated global actions: “The Nexus and Transformative Change reports show the urgency of adopting cross-sectoral approaches to ensure a future where biodiversity and humanity coexist harmoniously.”

For more information about IPBES and its reports: https://www.ipbes.net/