Biodiversity – interface between research and policy ever more important
9th February 2022 — According to a report presented by the IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) at its 2019 plenary meeting, around one million animal and plant species are currently threatened with extinction and could disappear from the face of the Earth in the coming decades. Global species extinction is already proceeding ten to one hundred times faster than the average over the last ten million years, and it is accelerating.
"In view of the threat posed to global biodiversity, the networking of biodiversity research in Germany, the integration of specialist expertise into the work processes of the World Biodiversity Council and the associated policy advice are important tasks – tasks that are not trivial and to which we are therefore devoting all the expertise of our team and passion for the cause."
Clear recommendation for action for humankind
Humanity can still take countermeasures, but to do so it needs clear, scientifically sound recommendations for action. This is precisely the task of the World Biodiversity Council. IPBES collects and evaluates existing knowledge on biodiversity worldwide and outlines possible options for action on this basis. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) have recently extended the contract with DLR-PT to coordinate the national processes until April 2024. This means that DLR-PT has been continuously entrusted with the coordination of IPBES tasks since April 2014 and, in addition to climate change, represents biodiversity conservation as another important social issue at the science-policy interface of DLR-PT.
"We are very pleased that we, as the German IPBES Coordination Unit, will continue to provide services to science, politics and society in the coming years," explains Christian von Drachenfels, Head of DLR-PT's Environment and Sustainability Division. "In view of the threat posed to global biodiversity, the networking of biodiversity research in Germany, the integration of specialist expertise into the work processes of the World Biodiversity Council and the associated policy advice are important tasks that are not trivial and to which we are therefore devoting all the expertise of our team and passion for the cause."
Integration of technical expertise at national level
The continuation of the German IPBES Coordination Unit at DLR-PT is a clear sign of continuity. It promotes the integration of technical expertise at national level and helps to identify, together with its clients, the research and environmental policy framework that will enable Germany to make important and visible contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. It also informs both the German scientific community and the general public about the findings and goals of IPBES, working closely with the international IPBES Secretariat, which is based in Bonn, too, and other IPBES networks, particularly those in Europe.