Samenvatting

The main purpose of this report is to give an account of the most appropriate roles and arrangements that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can assume in the newly created, UN-administered, Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
In order to do that, extensive literature was used to establish a thematic framework for the creation of IPBES, to justify its existence, and to stress the importance of civil society to be an intrinsic part of it. Qualitative research methods were employed in the form of semi-structured interviews with representatives from civil society who represent stakeholders to the Platform.
Based on the above, several conclusions were made. The most appropriate activities that NGOs should engage in include advocating and trying to influence the policy-making process, working on the ground under a mandate provided by IPBES, campaigning on neglected and/or emerging issues, capacity-building, and working with local and indigenous communities in order to translate their knowledge into mainstream science. Furthermore, the Ex-officio model of IUCN is the most favoured one. Networks of NGOs are also favoured, however, within limits.
The model for the creation of the IPBES, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is considered a good example but regarding NGO participation, the IPBES needs to evolve and go beyond that concerning transparency and inclusiveness.
Even though many of the above activities have great merits for the multi-stakeholder dialogue, the intergovernmental nature of the Platform and the current state of the inception process reveal that the role of NGOs will be limited to what governments will allow to be civil society's area of activity.
Recommendations include expanding and building on those roles for which non-governmental organizations create added value both for the IPBES findings but also for their own work and goals. Furthermore, NGOs need to accept that IPBES will most likely not revolutionize the way civil society interacts with governments in the UN context, as is the case with the International Labour Organization, and capitalize on the above mentioned merits while being aware of their government-prescribed limitations.