Today, on 6 December 2021, the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) launched its new website at www.besnet.world, a one-stop new address capturing the depth and breadth of ongoing work in biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration.

BES-Net’s journey began in 2016, led by the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Global Policy Centre on Resilient Ecosystems (GC-RED) and the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) as a consortium, supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and SwedBio. In 2020, BES-Net marked the start of a new phase with the consortium expanding to include the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) along with UNDP and UNEP-WCMC. Through its work, BES-Net complements the work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The initiative brings together scientists, policymakers and practitioners to co-create new and diverse knowledge, make evidence-based decisions and implement grassroot solutions for biodiversity conversation in more than 18 countries around the world.

The new website reflects this renewed partnership and purpose. The platform offers all the latest news from the project, including the work on national ecosystem assessments, the multistakeholder “Trialogue process” for decision-makers and policy influencers, the impact of the BES Solution Fund provided to several countries and BES-Net’s engagement with indigenous and local knowledge-holders. The website is also a platform to spotlight latest news, events, vacancies, and opportunities within its network of more than 120 partners and includes a library of over 4,000 open-source journals with the latest research on biodiversity and ecosystems.

With a fresh new look, easy navigation through its regional and national work and an expanded scope for multimedia, the new website is open to the public at large and welcomes experts in biodiversity and ecosystem services across sectors to join and contribute.