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