Bonn,
28 January 2013 - A new international science-policy
platform on biodiversity and ecosystems, set up to assist
governments and citizens to better understand the state,
trends and challenges facing the natural world and humanity
in the 21st century, has today put in place many of the
administrative and staffing structures needed to implement
its important work.

Over 500 delegates, including from most
of the 105 Member States of the Intergovernmental Platform
on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), attended
the first plenary meeting of the platform (IPBES-1), in
Bonn, Germany.

For further information please see:

• Read the full UNEP
  Press Release
• 
  Closing Joint Statement from the Six Biodiversity-Related
  Conventions | Opening
  Joint Statement from the Six Biodiversity-Related Conventions
• Earth
  Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) coverage of the
  meeting