UNESCO activities in this area consist in:

• collecting, peer-reviewing and packaging scientific information for the purpose of decision-making
• promoting the participation of its Member States and scientists in international research and monitoring programmes on biodiversity
• providing technical advice on biodiversity governance and contributing to biodiversity policy research

Assessments
Scientific assessments are processes aimed at bearing the findings of scientific activities to the attention of policy-makers. They rely on scientifically-sound, pluridisciplinary, and peer-reviewed information, which is selected and presented in a way so as to meet the needs and language of policy-making. An enabling political environment is also necessary to the success of scientific assessments. Examples of successful scientific assessments are the Ozone Assessment, the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

• Follow-up on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
  The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) (2000-2005) allowed to assess the benefits of ecosystems for human well-being and to inform policy-makers and society at large on how to reverse the degradation of ecosystem services.
  UNESCO, ICSU and UNU-IAS have established a Scoping Group charged with developing recommendations on how to fill knowledge gaps identified by the MA. The main expected outcome is a document addressed to governments and the scientific community containing guidance on the next generation of ecosystem research and sub-global assessments.
• The International Assessment on Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) which is sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO). This unique combination of international agencies recognizes the centrality of agricultural science and technology to development and in particular to hunger and poverty alleviation, human health, and the environment.
• UNESCO-SCOPE Policy Briefs : These policy briefs provide "at a glance" information, building on the contributions of international experts at multi-disciplinary workshops. Each brief reviews current knowledge, highlights trends and controversies, and opens perspectives for policy planners, decision makers and stakeholders in the community.

Read More:

• Policy Brief N°3, December 2006:How to Improve the Dialogue Between Science and Society - The Case of Global Environment Change
• Policy Brief N°2, October 2006: The Global Carbon Cycle
• Policy Brief N°1, May 2006: Indicators of Sustainability: Reliable Tool for Decision Making

Research and Monitoring

• UNESCO co-sponsors Diversitas - an international programme of biodiversity science which provides a platform for integrating scientific knowledge on biodiversity. It also promotes national research efforts on functional, evolutionary, and monitoring aspects of biodiversity.
  An expected outcome of its collaboration with Diversitas is further involvement of developing country scientists in international biodiversity research efforts, promotion of capacity building and knowledge sharing.
• UNESCO promotes monitoring of abiotic, biodiversity and social changes in biosphere reserves, through its Biosphere Reserve Integrated Monitoring (BRIM). UNESCO also co-sponsors the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS).
• UNESCO promotes applied research, monitoring and training in the field of ecohydrology, which aims at enhancing the sustainable use of water resources through the optimization of ecological processes.
• UNESCO supports current efforts on development of Novel Ecological Theory focused on complex socio-ecological systems, which is important for advancing knowledge and is relevant to society.
  In collaboration with SCOPE, UNESCO has undertaken a joint project to study those ecosystems that arise as the product of intense human activity and that present a novel, i.e. previously unknown structure, hence possible novel ecological functions. More
  As a part of the last international conference of the Ecological Society of America, UNESCO organized a workshop in order to discuss the implications of the novel ecological theory for future research and society (WK10 "New ecological knowledge and practices for society and sustainability"). The output of this discussion is the position paper that will be published in a special edition of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Support to Biodiversity Governance

• Convention on Biological Diversity
  UNESCO is a key partner of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and has assisted the CBD in the development and implementation of its decisions in relation to several of its themes and crosscutting issues.
• Decisions related to oceans and the law of the sea
  UNESCO has contributed to the production of two reports that have fed directly into decisions related to oceans and the law of the sea by the United Nations General Assembly.

Read more:

• Livestock in a Changing Landscape
• Hidden Assets: Biodiversity Below-Surface
• The Global Carbon Cycle
• Implementing the Ecosystem Approach in Open Ocean and Deep Sea Environments: An Analysis of Stakeholders, their Interests and Existing Approaches
• Bioprospecting of Genetic Resources in the Deep Seabed: Scientific, Legal and Policy Aspects