title: Biodiversity governance: a Tower of Babel of scales and cultures.
abstract: The recently created Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), originally focused on multilateral and global issues, is shifting its focus to address local issues and to include in its assessments local stakeholders and indigenous and traditional systems of knowledge. Acknowledging that full biodiversity governance is unavoidably rooted in participation of local actors and their problems and knowledge, we suggest that to deal successfully with the complexity and diversity of local issues, including indigenous knowledge systems, IPBES must recognize a key role of local institutions.
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Soberón
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America.
authors.forename: A Townsend
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Peterson
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D007390:International Agencies / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D007391:International Cooperation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*