Climate change: Advisory group gets green light
The move was welcomed by UK Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman who said that, alongside climate change, the loss of biodiversity was the greatest threat faced by humanity.
The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has been set up to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and the government action needed to stop the destruction of nature.
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Hide AdThe move comes shortly after the revelation that governments have missed targets to halt losses in biodiversity by this year.
The new body will be similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which has driven action on global warming based on science – though not without controversy, most recently over a mistake on the melting of glaciers in its 2007 report.
Like the IPCC, the new IPBES organisation will draw up reports based on reviews of scientific papers about wildlife and ecosystems, including the resources and natural "services" – such as rain – they provide.