Engaging the conservation community in the IPBES process.

There is increasing political and scientific recognition of the value of nature for human well-being (Dı́az et al. 2015). However, trade-offs between human development and the environment continue to harm biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) (Tittensor et al. 2014). The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was established in 2012 as a sciencepolicy platform to catalyze action on environmental issues by producing global and regional assessments that synthesize information on the state of the planet’s biodiversity, its ecosystems, and the essential services they provide to society and to support policy formulation to prevent further declines in BES. The IPBES serves a complementary role to biodiversity-related conventions such as the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and has a similar synthesizing role to the Intergovernmental Platform on Climate Change (IPCC). A key novelty of IPBES is that it acknowledges that socioecological relationships are an explicit component of the biodiversity landscape. The IPBES is an international science-policy platform, with the expectation, opportunity, and responsibility for experts from many disciplines globally to engage with it. IPBES offers rigorous and synthesized scientific information on BES that can drive public engagement and policy dialogue (Redford et al. 2012). Prior recommendations to ensure high-quality assessment reports through rigorous and transparent review and participation of a broad range of experts (Pe’er et al. 2013) are being addressed through its stakeholder engagement strategy (SES), work programs, and rules of procedure. Stakeholders are involved in all IPBES functions, including the contribution and integration of knowledge from scientists and indigenous and local knowledge systems (ILKs), integral to the platform’s success. The first IPBES assessments, Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production and Scenario Analysis and Modelling of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, are near completion. The latter assessment provides guidelines for using scenarios and models in policy and decision-making contexts that will support upcoming global and regional assessments and a thematic assessment on land degradation and restoration. Stakeholder Engagement