[The intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES)]

Filling an identified gap, the establishment of an international mechanism for science/policy and expert/decision maker interface, in the field of biodiversity does not go so smoothly. This new institution is the result of a relatively long and arduous international negotiations process, the starting point having been an idea launched in Paris in 2005 at an international conference on biodiversity and supported by President Chirac. The "Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services" (IPBES) is part of a legal and institutional landscape very complex and fragmented. Even though it was officially established in 2012 and held its first meeting in January 2013, its status and governance, as well as its procedures and methods of operation remain to be defined. Often presented as the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) biodiversity, it is inspired in fact by the latter while distinguishing in several respects.