How a UN platform to stop biodiversity loss could up its game

Biodiversity, the variety of plant, animal and microbial life on Earth, is still declining. For many years there have been calls for some sort of scientific body or initiative to be set up to encourage the international community to shoulder its responsibilities over biodiversity. In the scientific literature in particular, several authors argued that a more efficient and permanent organisation to convey scientific works to governments could help meet international commitments to stop biodiversity loss. In 2005 a process was started that led to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES. The IPBES was finally established in 2012 as a United Nations body. It recently published its first reports and has several others under way. Biodiversity keeps declining despite lots of accumulated knowledge and numerous international and national commitments to act. How could IPBES help change this?[...]