[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 96 (Friday, May 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 23126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-10214]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice: 9998]


Notice; Call for Expert Reviewers

AGENCY: Department of State.

ACTION: Notice; call for expert reviewers.

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SUMMARY: The United States Government encourages relevant experts to 
provide comments to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and 
Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on six assessments related to biodiversity 
and ecosystem services: Four regional assessments, one global 
assessment, and one assessment on land degradation and restoration.

DATES: The three regional draft assessments and the land degradation 
and restoration draft assessment: Available for review now until June 
26, 2017.
    The Americas regional draft assessment: Available for review from 
May 29-July 24, 2017.
    The global draft assessment: Available for review from June 15-
August 15, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Aktipis 
([email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States is an active member of 
IPBES, an independent intergovernmental body that assesses the state of 
biodiversity and of the ecosystem services biodiversity provides to 
society. The U.S. Government is committed to an open and transparent 
review process, and welcomes participation of all government and non-
government subject matter experts. The U.S. government encourages 
individuals with significant expertise and/or publications relevant to 
these assessments to serve as expert reviewers.
    Interested experts will first register as users of the IPBES Web 
site (http://www.ipbes.net/user/register?destination=sod-review) and 
then can apply to become IPBES reviewers at www.ipbes.net/sod-review 
(this will only work when logged in to the IPBES Web site). Reviewers 
will receive an email providing access to the draft assessments and 
will be requested to submit their comments using a template that is 
available on the same Web page. All relevant comments will then be 
addressed by the assessment authors in the next round of revisions.
    The final drafts of the regional and land degradation and 
restoration assessments will be considered by IPBES Member States at 
the 6th IPBES Plenary meeting in March 2018. The global draft 
assessment will be released for a second public review later in 2018.

Sherry Zalika Sykes,
Director, Acting, Office of Conservation and Water, Bureau of Oceans 
and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of 
State.
[FR Doc. 2017-10214 Filed 5-18-17; 8:45 am]
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