Role and place of the IPBES in the Mediterranean Region (IPBES)

Project ID Card

Acronym

IPBES

Project Call

2013

Project Dates

Sep 2013 - Mar 2018

Relevant OT-MED work packages

WP3

Project leader

Sandrine Maljean-Dubois

Participants or laboratories

Sandrine Maljean-Dubois (CERIC)
Wolgang Cramer (IMBE)
Guillaume Futhazar (OT-Med PhD student)

Context & Objectives

The characteristics of the Mediterranean region make it a fascinating subject for environmental law studies. Its unique biodiversity and ecosystems are subject to a vast network of international conventions and regional regulations which all are the result of a specific cooperation between policy makers and the scientific community. More over the region is also at the cross road of Europe, Maghreb and Middle East, making it an important geopolitical subject. In this particular context the recent establishment of the IPBES raises several questions in terms of environmental governance in the region.

The IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) ’ main objective is to “strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human wellbeing and sustainable development”. In doing so, the IPBES takes inspiration in the functioning of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As so, it will be providing several assessments of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystems services and their interlinkage but will also responds to the requests from governments related to biodiversity and ecosystems services.

The IPBES has several other functions that are also important in the field of environmental governance. As such, in the exceptional context of the Mediterranean region, the IPBES will have a subsequent impact. The main objective of this project is to assess how the IPBES will establish itself within the complex framework of the region at a political, juridical on scientific level.

Main Results

- Analysis of the institutional processes for the incorporation of scientific knowledge in decision-making in different Mediterranean international regimes

- Analysis of the interactions among different international regimes in the region

Publications

Futhazar (G.), Lafitte (A.), Sauzade (D.), Le Tellier (J.), "Quelles interfaces science-politique pour la gouvernance environnementale en Méditerranée ?", Les notes du Plan Bleu, n°35, févier 2018, 8 p.

Futhazar (G.), Pesche (D.), Maljean-Dubois (S.), “The IPBES, biodiversity and the law: design, functioning and perspectives of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”, in MacManis (C.), Ong (B.) (dir.), Routledge Handbook of Biodiversity and the Law, Routledge, Londres, 2017, 422 p., pp. 395-407.

Futhazar (G.), “Better expertise through institutional linkages The case of the Mediterranean basin”, in Maljean-Dubois (S.) (dir.), The Effectiveness of Environmental Law, Intersentia, Cambridge, 2017, 348p., pp. 101-124.

Futhazar (G.), “La circulation des normes comme outil de l’effectivité: le cas de la CITES, de la CDB et du fond pour l’environnement mondial”, in Maljean-Dubois (S.) (dir.), Circulations de normes et réseaux d’acteurs dans la gouvernance internationale de l’environnement, Confluence des Droits, Aix-en-Provence, 2017, 212 p., pp. 95- 116.

Futhazar (G.), “From climate to biodiversity: Procedural transcriptions and innovations within the IPBES in light of the IPCC’s practice”, in Hrabanski (M.), Pesche (D.) (dir.), The IPBES: Meeting the Challenge of Biodiversity Conservation and Governance, Routledge, London, 2016, 254 p., pp. 102-118.

Pesche (D.), Futhazar (G.), Maljean-Dubois (S.), “IPBES mandate and governance”, in Hrabanski (M.), Pesche (D.) (ed.), The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) - Meeting the challenges of biodiversity and governance, Routledge, London, 2016, 254 p., pp 78-101.

Futhazar (G.), “The diffusion of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Biodiversity Target”, Oxford Yearbook of International Environmental Law, vol. 25, 2015, pp. 133-166.