The SEPA is the national focal point for IPBES is Sweden. As such the SEPA manages communication with the IPBES secretariat and represents Swedish interest in the IPBES plenary meetings and workshops. Nationally, the SEPA helps organise work and research connected to IPBES and is responsible for spreading the knowledge produced by IPBES as well as adapting it to make it useful to Swedish actors.
To support the work of IPBES, SEPA established a Scientific Council for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in 2013, (Vetenskapliga rådet för biologisk mångfald och ekosystemtjänster) aiming to advise SEPA on IPBES and CBD related questions and providing scientific evidence to these processes. Members of the council are selected and appointed by SEPA for a two years term with the possibility of an additional term. The council consists of 38 members from universities and scientific institutions with a broad range of expertise and backgrounds in natural science, social science and indigenous and local knowledge as well as some representatives from national agencies. The council meets 2-3 times a year and should serve as a link between the research community and decision makers.
About 20 researchers from Swedish universities, scientific institutions and organisations have been involved in various parts of IPBES work program, as experts and authors of IPBES assessment reports. As of 2015, professor Marie Stenseke at the School of Buisness, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg is a member of IPBES’ Multidiciplinary Expert Panel.
The SEPA, nominates qualified experts and send them to IPBES secretariat.
The SEPA also supports IPBES work financially through contributions to IPBES trust fund and by partly finance the participation of Swedish experts in author meetings and for Marie Stenseke as member of the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel.
Swedish Reports
The SEPA produces reports summarising the results from the various IPBES reports in relation to Swedish circumstances in order to facilitate the use of this knowledge in a Swedish context.
Technical report written in collaboration with the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) on the links between climate change and biodiversity in a Swedish context (2020):
A Nordic IPBES-like stud conducted by the Nordic countries, on biodiversity and ecosystem services, risks and possible measures along the Nordic coastal areas.The study was led by SEPA and financially supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers and Nordic countries (2018):
This report summarises the conclusions from the global IPBES report on pollination and food production in Swedish and further illustrates the situation for pollinators in Sweden (2018):
Conferences
SEPA organises yearly interdisciplinary seminars for stakeholders to provide information of IPBES and to share experience related to biodiversity research and indigenous knowledge.
- 2017: SEPA organised the First public seminar in cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) to inform about IPBES, its first assessment report and Sweden’s engagement in the process.
- • 2018: SEPA together with the Swedish Biodiversity Centre (CBM), KSLA and the Swedish Museum of Natural History are co-organised a conference with the title “Biodiversity and social development - New ways forward?”. The aim of the conference was to inform about and to discuss the IPBES Regional Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Europe and Central Asia, the Thematic Assessment Report on Land Degradation as well as the IPBES-like assessment on Nordic coastal ecosystems.
- 2019: Together with the Swedish Biodiversity Centre (CBM), The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) and the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the SEPA organised a conference titled Biodiversity in the world – knowledge for action. The conferences centered around the results in the just-released Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and a Swedish report based on The Assessment Report on Land Degredation and Restoration, that looks at Swedish examples of land degredation and restoration.
- 2020: The SEPA organised a conference titled Biodiversity, Climate change and transformative change about the links between the loss of biodiversity and climate change, and what kind of societal transformation is needed to tackle these two interconnected issues. The technical report on the links between climate change and biodiversity provided the basis for the discussion.
- Recordning of the conference (in swedish)