The United Nations is setting up a body to monitor global ecology modelled on its influential climate panel. Last week, representatives from 85 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea, to approve the formation of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which will operate much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. According to the document hammered out on 11 June 2010, the IPBES will conduct periodic assessments of Earth biodiversity and ecosystem services — ecosystems outputs, such as fresh water, fish, game, timber and a stable climate, that benefit humankind. These assessments, based on reviews of the scientific literature, will answer questions about how much biodiversity is declining and what the implications of extinctions and ecosystem change might be for humanity. Assessments will take place from global to sub-regional scales.

IPBES press release

Nature News