UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 07 October 2009 -  Nairobi - Over 300 delegates from about 100 countries are gathering this week in Nairobi to discuss biodiversity loss and vulnerable ecosystems in a meeting of the 2nd Ad-hoc Intergovernmental and Multi-Stakeholder Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); the representatives are developing strategies that strengthen the interrelations between science and policy to address this important and complex challenge.

The delegates are discussing the development of a mechanism to provide periodic, timely and policy-relevant scientific information covering the full range of biodiversity and ecosystem service issues to governments and the broader development community in support of policy development and decision-making. The participants were welcomed on Monday by Ibrahim Thiaw, Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, on behalf of UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. Angela Cropper, UNEP Deputy Executive Director, spoke to the assembly and warned that the target for reduced biodiversity loss by 2010 called for in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment would likely not be reached. Ms. Cropper stressed the importance of strengthen dialogue among

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scientists and policy experts and urged new mechanisms for collaboration and scientific independence, assessments and support and capacity building, especially in developing countries.

Mr. Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP), called for the creation of new mechanisms for biodiversity policy.

Mr. Flasbarth discussed the establishment of IPBES and proposed that it be based on the such organizations as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and provide additional value and scientific evidence to the international community along with existing scientific organizations of the CBD's Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA).

Mr. John Michuki, Minister of Environment, Kenya, also encouraged the establishment of an international body, but said that any mechanism not duplicate other UN and private sector organizations.

Mr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, the new logo for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.

The world's ecosystem health and sustainability play a critical role in the well-being of all human kind; unsustainable human activities have resulted in an estimated 60 percent decline in ecosystems services and huge biodiversity loss over the last half century.

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