ICSU ROAP HOST MA SUB-GLOBAL ASSESSMENT MEETINGS

ICSU ROAP has just completed co-hosting three meetings related to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Sub-Global Follow-up Programme, as part of the activation of its work in its ecosystems priority area. The first was a four-day meeting organized by the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS), on 10 to 13 April that aimed to re-establish the MA sub-global assessment (SGA) network, in order to present and discuss the rationale, objectives and scope of the sub-global assessment activities as part of the broader strategy of MA follow-up. It also informed participants of new assessments that were not part of the original set of MA SGAs. This meeting was attended by around 80 participants from all over the world and Malaysian participants.

The second meeting held on 14 and 15 April was jointly organized by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). It discussed the structure and content of the MA Methodology Manual with a view to identifying primary needs and receiving sub-global case study material for inclusion in the Manual, and for identifying authors from the sub-global assessments to prepare various chapters of the Manual.

The third meeting was a Scoping and Design Workshop on the Malaysian SGA, was held concurrently on 14 and 15 of April and was jointly organized by ICSU ROAP, the UNU IAS, Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), and the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) focused specifically on the establishment and launch of a Malaysian SGA. The Malaysian SGA will be lead by LESTARI and is anticipated to take two years to complete. The Head of the Ecosystem Services and Economics Unit of UNEP based in Nairobi , Kenya , Dr Anantha Kumar Duraiappah and Dr Bradnee Chambers, Senior Programme Officer of the UNU IAS made valuable presentations to start the discussions