Bayreuth GCE students at the IPBES-8 Plenum
Students of the “Global Change Ecology” master’s programme take part in the 8th Plenary of the World Biodiversity Council IPBES, this year an online event.
In June 2021, students of the elite Global Change Ecology (GCE) programme had the unique opportunity to attend the 8th Plenary Meeting of the World Biodiversity Council IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services). 17 students and alumni attended the international conference, which was held online this year due to the pandemic.
GCE students at the last “live” IPBES Plenary in Paris in 2019.
Eva Ntara
IPBES-8 Plenary
The IPBES-8 Plenary opened on 14 June 2021 with an inspiring video on IPBES achievements since the last Plenary in 2019. Among other things, the IPBES Workshop Report on the issue of biodiversity and pandemics was published last year. This shows how important the work of IPBES is, especially in times like these.
This was followed by bye opening speeches from the Chair of IPBES, Ana María Hernández Salgar, its Secretariat, and the individual regions. The main items on the agenda of the IPBES-8 Plenary involved the finalisation and adoption of the scoping reports for two new IPBES reports:
- to assess the link between biodiversity, water, food and health; and
- to assess the causes of biodiversity loss and the determinants of transformative change for achieving the 2050 biodiversity targets.
Secretariat at IPBES-8.
IPBES Facebook Post Juni 2021
GCE students as observers at IPBES-8
Normally, the IPBES Plenary is a good opportunity for students to network with scientists, policy makers, and NGOs in the field of biodiversity. Unfortunately, there was no such opportunity this year given the Plenary’s online format. Nevertheless, it was very interesting for students to experience the course of such an important conference, and to see what they had previously learned in seminars about these negotiations put into practice.
The students were able to follow the discussions and negotiations in the plenary sessions and the working groups. On the final day of the Plenary, 24 June 2021, one of the last items on the agenda was to decide on future venues.