The consultative process towards an IMoSEB (International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity) was a multidisciplinary effort from 2005 to 2008 that involved a large number of stakeholders and had a considerable political and media audience. Its aim was the creation of a value-added process by taking into account existing and current initiatives and mechanisms.
Initiated at the International Conference "Biodiversity: Science and Governance" in January 2005, it ended in November 2007 with the final meeting of its International Steering Committee (ISC). IMoSEB results were congrued with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment follow up to create the "Intergovernmental Science-Policy platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services" (IPBES), led by UNEP. IPBES first meeting took place in November 2008 in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Background.
International Conference "Biodiversity: Science and Governance".
During the International Conference held in January 2005, President Jacques Chirac launched a call for action to set up an IPCC like for biodiversity. The final declaration of the conference recommended in response, the launch of an international multi-stakeholder consultative process guided by a balanced multi-stakeholder steering committee. This process would assess the need for an international mechanism which would:
A provisional steering committee, based on the scientific and organizational committee of the conference, was set up to define the IMoSEB steering committee and its modalities of work .
Open Science Conference DIVERSITAS.
During the DIVERSITAS conference held in Oaxaca, in October 2005, the scientific community reiterated its support to the consultative process and for the establishment of a scientific panel on biodiversity that included an intergovernmental component
CBD SBSTTA 11.
A first presentation of the consultative process, its modalities of work, its goals and possible outcomes, were presented during the 11th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) SBSTTA in December 2006
Consultative process towards an IMoSEB.
International Steering Committee, Executive Committee, Executive Secretariat.
The International Steering Committee (ISC) was composed of about 90 members:
An Executive Committee (EC) was appointed to draft a plan of action for the consultation phase. The Executive Committee is co-chaired by Alfred Oteng-Yeboah and Michel Loreau and the following people became members of the EC: Ivar Baste, Martha Chouchena-Rojas, Christine Dawson, Horst Korn, Keping Ma, Georgina Mace, Martha Mapangou, Charles Perrings, Peter Raven, José Sarukhán, Robert Watson, Jacques Weber.
The Executive Secretariat was composed of the Executive Secretary, Didier Babin (Institut Français de la Biodiversité) and Maxime Thibon (Institut Français de la Biodiversité). The Executive Secretariat (ES) was responsible for coordination and promotion of the consultative process.
Anne Larigauderie (DIVERSITAS) contributed to the work of this secretariat.
First ISC meeting and its conclusions.
The consultative process was officially launched in February 2006 at its first meeting in Paris at the French National Museum of Natural History. More than 90 participants attended the meeting. The meeting overall ended with the agreement to
The Executive Committee was asked to consider these two tasks and developed a plan of action for the consultation
A first step, based on case studies, aiming at:
Based on the results of the studies, the Executive Committee identified a series of needs and formulated a number of possible options, as basis for discussion during regional consultations, seeking feedback on these propositions.
Case Studies.
Several case studies on the science-policy interface on biodiversity and on How scientific is used in decision making processes have been conducted in 2006.
Needs&amp;Options.
The following needs had been identified by the Executive Committee on the basis of the results of the case studies and from voluntary contributions about the effectiveness with which scientific and other relevant knowledge is used in decisions that affect biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being at the international scale.
Options formulated by the EC as basis for discussion
Regional consultations.
In 2007, a set of regional consultations were organized, involving more than 300 participants and 40 international/regional organizations from 70 countries.
These consultations took place in:
Final International Steering Committee.
The Final ISC took place in Montpellier in November 2007, and defined what could be and do a possible IMoSEB
The mean features of an IMoSEB would be:
The mechanism would be:
2008 agenda included: