UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen has announced the designation of UNEP-WCMC Director Neville Ash as the interim Officer in Charge (OiC) of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) secretariat from 1 May.

The Executive Secretary of IPBES, Dr Anne Larigauderie, will be retiring at the end of April after serving for over ten years in the role. Neville’s function as OiC will be an interim arrangement until a new Executive Secretary is appointed in due course.

IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body that aims to strengthen the science-policy interface to support the conservation of biodiversity and human well-being and sustainable development. UNEP provides secretariat services to the platform.

Neville has a long-held association with IPBES, having worked on the initial establishment of the platform, and then serving as head of the interim IPBES secretariat from 2012-2014. He will continue serving as Director of UNEP-WCMC alongside this interim role and will be splitting his time between the IPBES secretariat in Bonn and the Centre headquarters in Cambridge.

I am honoured to have been designated as Officer in Charge of the IPBES Secretariat under an interim arrangement until such time as Anne Larigauderie's successor is appointed. It will be a busy few months as I continue in parallel in my role as Director of UNEP-WCMC. There are many existing connections between UNEP-WCMC and IPBES including through the work we do at the Centre providing technical support to IPBES on the business and biodiversity assessment, on the policy support function of IPBES, and more widely with staff at the Centre contributing as assessment co-chairs, authors and reviewers. I look forward to supporting the IPBES team in Bonn and the wider IPBES community over the coming months, and to continuing my work here at UNEP-WCMC in Cambridge.

Neville Ash, Director, UNEP-WCMC

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