Welcome to the United Nations
Letter from Executive Secretary
Excellency,
It is my great honor to submit to the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF), as an input to its 2021 discussion on “Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development: building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”, the report from a workshop on biodiversity and pandemics, organized by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) online from 27 – 31 July 2020.
Please note that the workshop was organized in support of the scoping process for an IPBES thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health, in the context of climate change. As such, the workshop report does not showcase the views and guidance of the IPBES governing body. As the disclaimer on the workshop reports indicates, the workshop report and any recommendations or conclusions contained therein have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by the IPBES Plenary.
The workshop convened some of the world's leading experts from fields as diverse as epidemiology, zoology, public health, disease ecology, comparative pathology, veterinary medicine, pharmacology, wildlife health, mathematical modelling, economics, law, and public policy. The expertise of these authors was further augmented by contributions and knowledge resources from the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the World Health Organization. The workshop report, with cites 700 mostly recent scientific references, is one of the most scientifically robust examinations of the evidence and knowledge about links between pandemic risk and nature since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The workshop report will serve as supplementary material for the IPBES assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health in the context of climate change, which the Plenary of IPBES is expected to commence later in 2021 for preparation within the following three to four years.
The report from the workshop on biodiversity and pandemics can be accessed at the following link: https://ipbes.net/pandemics.
