Expert groups scope and produce the assessments used by IPBES to connect with policymakers. Ongoing topics include pollinators, pollination, and food production; scoping for a set of regional and global assessments of the status of biodiversity and ecosystem services; and scoping for a thematic assessment of land degradation and restoration. IPBES will periodically announce calls for nominations. Examples of such calls can be seen here. If you are interested in receiving calls directly, please email ipbes@esa.org to be included on our mailing list.
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is assisting the U.S. government in identifying U.S. nominees for expert groups who meet the following criteria:
- 3 years of experience in related issues
- Products or publications relevant to the deliverable
- Ability to support their travel to meetings
- Ability to participate in person at the meeting for the expert group specified in the IPBES call
- U.S. citizenship
ESA’s IPBES Steering Committee reviews applications and forwards recommendations to the U.S. State Department for submission to the IPBES Secretariat.
ESA itself, as a nongovernmental organization, may also recommend nominees, who may or may not be U.S. citizens, directly to IPBES. Experts who would like ESA to nominate them directly should note this in their application.
Other IPBES members and nongovernmental organizations have their own nomination processes. Please visit this page to find the contact details for other governments.
Specific nomination procedures will be posted here when calls are announced.
Other Opportunities
If you do not have the time or financial support to serve on an expert group, there are still many other ways to contribute your expertise.
IPBES welcomes comments on draft reports and assessments from any interested stakeholder. An example of a draft report and comment template can be seen here. You can find out about future requests for comments by signing up for our mailing list here, following @IPBES on Twitter, or checking the IPBES official website.
There will also be calls for submissions to current assessments. These occur when the expert group volunteers do not have enough knowledge about specific topics within their assessments. Submissions are essential to producing the best assessments possible. An example of a previous call for submissions can be seen here. You can find out about future calls for submissions by signing up for our mailing list here, following @IPBES on Twitter, or checking the IPBES official website.