An historic meeting ended late last week in South Korea with the formation of an Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Led by the scientific community this independent platform will mimic a similar panel studying climate change. Those involved in climate change have had considerable success in catalyzing world-wide understanding and governmental action on global warming and it is hoped the configuration of the new body on biodiversity and ecosystems will have similar effects in its own field.

IPBES will facilitate decisive actions across governments worldwide based on ever increasing scientific documentation of accelerating declines and degradation of the natural world.

Let’s hope that this leads to a much greater understanding and appreciation of the real need for preservation of biodiversity and the protection of our wildlife and wilderness areas.