Gabon – Updates

How the platform started

In Gabon, efforts to strengthen the national science–policy interface for biodiversity are being led jointly by the IPBES National Focal Point, CDB National Focal Point and the national NGO Forêts-Développement, with support from CABES.

The process formally began in December 2024 through a series of participatory and inclusive consultations aimed at establishing a structured, multi-stakeholder coordination mechanism for biodiversity. An initial national workshop brought together key ministries and institutions responsible for biodiversity management — including Environment, Water and Forests, Agriculture, Research, Health, civil society organisations and NGOs — to lay the foundations for a national platform.

Discussions during the revision of Gabon’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) further reinforced the need for a permanent, cross-sectoral body capable of coordinating science, policy and practice. These consultations led to agreement on establishing a formal multi-stakeholder structure, initially conceptualised as a National Biodiversity Commission.

From the outset, the approach has emphasised:

• broad institutional ownership,
• inter-ministerial coordination, and
• stronger engagement of the national scientific community.

Formalisation and legal status

Gabon is now in the advanced stages of formalising the platform through a regulatory decree.

The draft decree was submitted to the Minister of Environment in March 2025 for onward transmission for presidential signature. While administrative changes slowed the timeline, technical preparations have continued.

Following the October retreat, next steps include:

• preparation of supporting documentation (including an explanatory note),
• submission of the finalised decree for signature and promulgation,
• validation workshop for the legal and institutional framework, and
• establishment of the Commission’s functional bodies (secretariat, membership structure, and operating procedures).

In practice, operational coordination is already underway, meaning the platform is functioning informally while awaiting full legal recognition.

Where things stand now

Progress through 2025–2026 has focused on putting the platform on a firm legal and institutional footing.

Twelve structured working meetings between the IPBES Focal Point and Forêt-Développement supported the drafting of:

• Terms of Reference,
• governance arrangements, and
• a draft regulatory decree establishing the platform’s mandate, functions, organisation and operating procedures.

A key milestone was a pre-validation retreat held from 9–12 October 2025 in Nkok/Ntoum, bringing together the Ministry of Environment, World Wide Fund for Nature and other national stakeholders to review and strengthen the draft text. Participants endorsed the direction of travel and agreed to rename the body the National Commission on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, reflecting a broader science–policy mandate aligned with IPBES and the Kunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Since early 2025, outreach has also expanded to strengthen scientific participation. Information and coordination meetings have been organised with:

• the Calestous Juma Executive Dialogue scientific community hosted under African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD),
• national research institutions such as CENAREST,
• universities including Omar Bongo University and the University of Science and Technology of Masuku, and
• sectoral associations in agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

These engagements are building a national pool of experts ready to contribute to IPBES assessments and evidence-based policymaking.