The Importance of Science Communication with IBPES Assessments as a Case Study
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IBPES) is an independent intergovernmental body that aims to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services to support the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being, and sustainable development. Since its establishment in 2011, IBPES has brought together experts across all scientific disciplines and areas of expertise to develop the best available policy recommendations that all levels of government, the private sector, and civil society can adopt.
More specifically, IBPES has four main areas of focus:
Assessments: On specific themes; methodological issues; and at both the regional and global levels.
Policy Support: Identifying policy-relevant tools and methodologies, facilitating their use, and catalyzing their further development.
Building Capacity & Knowledge: Identifying and meeting the priority capacity, knowledge and data needs of our member States, experts and stakeholders.
Communications & Outreach: Ensuring the widest reach and impact of
our work.
This leads to the two reports which the Creative Storytelling Roundtable with Generation Climate Europe (GCE) focused on, which are both thematic assessments.
The first report “Thematic Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity”, presents different approaches so that deep and transformative change can take place to halt biodiversity loss and create enabling conditions for a just transition. For instance, what kinds of governance approaches should take place to create these conditions at the national, regional and local level? How can one adapt ones solutions to fit the local context? Why are participatory governance approaches including indigenous and local communities essential? How can focusing on nature-based solutions help with our resilience towards climate change?
The second report “Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health”, explores the nexus between biodiversity, water, food and health by presenting six possible future scenarios that illustrate how different policy choices and societal priorities could impact our world. For example, what would a technology centered society focused on food security look like?
The reports addresses these questions and much more. However, the language is technical and the assessments extensive, with even the summaries aimed at policy makers being over 50 pages long. Given the technical nature of these assessments, it is important to communicate the findings in an approachable way so people can digest them more easily, and think about how they can apply the policy recommendations into their own communities.
This is where GCE’s Climate Change and Biodiversity team came in, to analyze these reports and present them through a story, to make it more approachable to the public. The findings of these reports are important, but it can be hard to visualize how they could be applied in the real-world. This is how the two-part story of Aisha came to be, as she explores cities who have adopted different approaches to addressing the interconnected biodiversity-climate crisis. In the first story, Aisha travels from her own city, Kalaysis - which is a reflection of what happens when no action is taken - to Arboris, which is a city that has adopted the different principles of transformative change that the IPBES Transformative Change report suggests. In the second story, Aisha visits six cities which embody the six scenarios the IPBES Nexus Assessment presents, which showcase how different policy priorities in addressing biodiversity loss can manifest in governance and overall ways of life.
In the roundtable, it was clear that the audience appreciated how the stories embody the policy recommendations and six scenarios in such a distinct way, and clearly communicated what these recommendations and scenarios could look like in practical terms. In the post-round table survey, a participant reflected that a key takeaway was “Translating policy into stories is possible but also challenging”. During the Q&A, GCE explained that the process of translating the reports into stories took over a year. Given it was their first time managing a science communication project like this, it took time to read over the reports, extracting key takeaways, and coming up with a story outline which could communicate the information best. We highly encourage you to watch the roundtable recording and read the stories yourself!
Science Communication Resources
Here are some free resources for you to consider if you want to tackle communicating technical information in your own field into a more approachable format:
General writing resources:
Sources
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