Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the outcomes of the 2018 Plenary meeting of Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

The sixth Plenary of the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) met in Medellin, Colombia between 17 and 24 March.

Five new assessments were adopted – four Regional Assessments on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (for Africa; the Americas; Asia-Pacific; and Europe and Central Asia) and a thematic assessment on Land Degradation and Restoration. UK scientists have been at the forefront of delivering these assessments. Thirteen leading UK scientists worked on the assessment for Europe and Central Asia.

The assessments will feed into a global synopsis called Global Biodiversity Outlook to be finalised in 2019 and this will inform future targets and action under the Convention on Biological Diversity. We are determined to play a lead role in the development of an ambitious international biodiversity strategy under the Convention.