Opportunities and Challenges for Synergies Across Biodiversity-Related Conventions in the Context of Human Health and Zoonotic Diseases: The Role of Scientific Advisory Bodies

This chapter examines the work of the scientific advisory bodies of five biodiversity-related conventions: the Ramsar Convention, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Convention on Migratory Species, Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, and Convention on Biological Diversity. It will discuss how the scientific advisory bodies have collaborated in the past, through ad hoc or more formalized approaches, and how they may work more closely together in the future through the emergence of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), especially in the context of human health and infectious diseases. In doing so, this chapter considers how the scientific advisory bodies have responded to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, Ebola virus disease, and COVID-19. While institutional constraints exist, IPBES provides an opportunity for the scientific advisory bodies—and thus the biodiversity-related conventions themselves—to more effectively emphasize the need for biodiversity conservation as preventive measures for human health and well-being.