Dispatch 3: Science Takes the Stage at COP17

With a focus on how science feeds into the CBD negotiations and resulting agreements, frameworks, and plans, ESA’s COP17 delegates attended several science-policy events in the first few days of the conference.

On Monday, the Academia and Research Organizations Group held its flagship event, “The Evolving Role of Science, Academia, and Research in the CBD: From Evidence to Policy.” Speakers described the many formal and informal pathways through which scientific evidence informs the CBD. The discussion covered the roles of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the Consortium of Scientific Partners, and the CBD’s scientific advisory body, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA). This session was especially relevant for the ESA delegation, since it touched on opportunities for early-career researchers and others new to the CBD process.

On Tuesday, IPBES hosted “Stronger Science for Better Policy,” an overview of the three latest IPBES assessment reports which cover 1) the nexus between biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate; 2) the root causes of biodiversity loss and the system-wide changes needed to reverse it; and 3) how businesses and financial institutions depend on and impact biodiversity. A co-author of each report summarized its approach and main takeaways. These and all other IPBES assessment reports can be found here.

There’s much more science policy on the agenda this coming weekend. The 7^th Science-Policy Forum for Biodiversity takes place October 24-25, organized by the International Union of Biological Sciences. The forum aims to bring scientific evidence into the negotiations and produce key messages to inform COP17’s deliberations. We’re looking forward to it, and we’ll share what we learn in an upcoming dispatch.