Some environmental and ecological issues can be managed at a local scale, but most current issues require regional and national cooperation over a long term. To effectively take action against these urgent environmental and ecological issues, inter- national society has organized more than 170 inter- national conventions on environment. Considering the increasing global role of Korea, several min- istries joined the international conventions related to environmental issues, supporting international cooperation.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is one of the most important environmental con- ventions, along with the United Nations Frame- work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Deserti cation (UNCCD). Korea has been a party to the CBD since 1994. The Twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 12) was held in

Pyeongchang-gun of Gangwon-do, Korea, from September 29 to October 17, 2014. The Korean government suggested the Bio-Bridge Initiative to develop a streamlined mechanism for Technical and Scientific Cooperation between developed and developing countries.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is the intergovernmental body that assesses the state of biodiversity and the ecosystem services to provide scienti c and political consultation. At the 2nd General Assembly of the IPBES in 2013, Korea proposed to host the Technical Support Unit for the Task Force on Knowledge and Data of the IPBES. According to the decision of the third full Multidisciplinary Expert Panel and Bureau Meet- ing held in Germany in 2014, the Ministry of Envi- ronment of Korea of cially launched the unit at the National Institute of Ecology.