From March 17 to 24, 2018, the 6th Plenary Session of IPBES will be held in Medellin, Colombia, which is expected to serve about 800 people, including government delegates and stakeholders involved in the activities of the Platform. In this plenary session it is expected that the Summaries for Policy Makers of the 4 regional assessments (Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia) and the assessment on land degradation and restoration will be approved. Additionally, topics associated with IPBES procedures, as well as financial and budgetary issues, will be discussed. Likewise, advances will be reviewed in terms of the global assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and other thematic and methodological deliverables that experts from all over the world have been developing in recent years.
Meeting venue
The sixth session of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the preceding Regional Consultations and Stakeholder Day will be held at Hotel InterContinental Medellin.
Address: Calle 16 # 28-51, Variante las Palmas, Medellín, Colombia.
Telephone: +57 - 4 44 81 06
Website: Hotel Intercontinental Medellin
Accommodation
Hotel Intercontinental Medellín
Special rates have been negotiated for delegates at Intercontinental Medellin, which is the venue for the Plenary session. You can book your accommodation by downloading and filling in the reservation form and sending it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with copy to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Credit card information will be requested to guarantee room reservation. Guests have 48 hours before check in date to make any cancellation or change without having any charge. The rates are indicated in the table below for your information.
All foreign guests (non-Colombian residents) who pay directly will be tax exempted by showing a valid passport during the check-in. The rate without taxes will apply for such guests. An optional insurance fee of 5 USD per day is payable. Guests must sign a document for not accepting the insurance at check-in. The insurance covers medical emergency and loss of personal belongings (additional terms, conditions andrestrictions may apply)
Room rates quoted are inclusive of breakfast
Free wired and wireless broadband access
Above rates are only applicable during the conference dates
Reservations are subject to availability. The hotel has only 290 rooms which will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Other hotels near the venue
The following hotels are located within a convenient commuting distance from the Plenary venue.
HOTEL RATE SINGLE(USD) RATE DOUBLE(USD) WEB SITE Dann Carlton
Milena Ramos
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+57 314 814 52 88
Ver sitio Web 10 Hotel
Natalia Rios
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+57 311 357 43 85
61 87 Ver sitio web Terra Biohotel
Mónica Moreno
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+57 311 434 09 27
48 56 Ver sitio web Hotel Florencia Plaza
Andrea Antequera
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+57 350 708 45 03
52 62 Ver sitio web Hotel NH
Angela Londoño
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+57 310 507 46 09
82 90 Ver sitio web Portón Medellín
Andrea Ospina
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+57 4 313 20 20
96 120 Ver sitio web Diez Hotel Categoría Colombia Ver sitio web City Express Plus Medellín
Ver sitio web Marriot Hotel Ver sitio web Getting to Medellin
The city of Medellin is serviced by the José María Cordova International Airport. Medellin city center is about 45 minutes from the airport. Delegates arriving at José María Cordoba International Airport can reach center either by:
Airport Taxi (?)
Individual and group taxis and limousines are readily available for hire from the main exit of the airport. The taxi fare is approximately $70.000 Colombian Pesos (23 USD). Taxis only take cash, you can also share the taxi with more people, each one cost 16.000 (5.5 USD) Colombian Pesos
Airport Buses – Express Coach (?)
Buses are also available at the airport to take you to Medellin. The bus fare is around $10.000 Colombian Pesos (4 USD) and needs to be paid in cash to the driver.
Arrival by Local Public Transportation to the Meeting Venue (?)
Buses: Comercial Hotelera bus route 2.100 Colombian pesos (0.7 USD) only take cash COP Trains: Each trip cost 2.000 COP (0.7 USD) but you can recharge a card with all the transfers just once. Taxis: There are over 19000 taxis available in the metropolitan area. The average price from el Poblado to the Intercontinental hotel is around 15.000 COP (5 USD)
Visa
Participants that require visas to enter Colombia are requested to apply for visas on Colombia’s visa application portal:
https://tramitesmre.cancilleria.gov.co/tramites/enlinea/solicitarVisa.xhtml
It is recommended that the visa application is done 30 days prior to the travel date. The list of countries that need visas is available on this website (available in Spanish):
Participants are also advised to obtain, where necessary, a transit visa for places en route to Colombia.
Electricity
The current is 120 volts and 60 hertz, with two flat vertical pins and a round pin plug as you can see in the following diagram:
Currency
The Colombian Peso (COP$) is the currency of Colombia. The COP is available in banknotes, which bear the value of 1.000, 2.000, 5.000, 10.000, 20.000, 50.000; and coins which bear the value of 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000. Please check before leaving your country since the current exchange rate may vary during the week.
Facilities for currency exchange are available at the Airport. As well as ATM that could change to rate from your original currency to COP. Participants are strongly warned not to exchange money on the street with informal dealers. Due to internal regulations, hotels are not allowed to exchange money.
Major credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, American Express,) are accepted at hotels, major restaurants and most shops in Medellin.
Special Needs
The IPBES Secretariat and meeting organisers are committed to ensure that all participants have a fruitful and pleasant stay in Colombia. Participants are encouraged to provide the meeting organisers with information regarding accessibility needs, dietary concerns and allergies, relevant medical issues, and any other special need requests which can be fulfilled by contacting the secretariat (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Vaccination and Insurance
VACCINATION
Medellin has no tropical diseases like malaria. Even if Medellín's water is potable and of good quality, foreigners may want to mix bottled and tap water for the first few days. A Yellow Fever vaccination certificate is required from all delegates coming from or going to/through Yellow Fever endemic countries and for all travelers having transit through the airport of a country with risk of Yellow Fever transmission. It is recommended that the participants have the required inoculations four to six weeks before departure; a Yellow fever inoculation certificate only becomes valid 10 days after inoculation - after which it remains valid for 10 years.
General information on international travel, health risks for travelers and vaccination requirements can be obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) website:
When travelling to Colombia please check:
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/colombia.
For more information including vaccination requirements for your travel, please consult a medical professional.
INSURANCE
All participants are advised to obtain travel insurance themselves. IPBES and meeting organisers will not accept responsibility for any medical bills, accidents or losses in connection with attending the event.
Weather and Standard Time Zone
In March, the temperatures in Medellin may vary between 16°C and 27°C, the temperature remains constant at about 22°C all year round. The weather is moderate and humid. You can check Medellin’s weather information in the following link:
http://worldweather.wmo.int/en/city.html?cityId=159
The Time Zone of Medellin is UTC/GMT -5 HOURS.
The sixth session of the Plenary will be held from Saturday 17 to Saturday 24 March 2018. The opening ceremony for the session will take place in the afternoon of Saturday, 17 March 2018. The formal session will commence at 10 a.m. on Sunday, 18 March 2018. The sessions are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Several evening sessions may also be required. Meeting rooms will be made available for self-organized regional and stakeholder consultation meetings every day at 8 a.m. Please refer to the provisional agenda.
In addition, regional consultations will take place on Saturday 17 March from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Opening ceremony and reception
The opening ceremony will take place on Saturday 17 March at 5.30 pm and will be followed by a reception hosted by the Government of Colombia. The official opening of the session will be on Sunday 18 March at 10:00 am.
Stakeholder Day
Stakeholder Days, open to all members, observers and stakeholders of IPBES, have been organized in advance of each previous Plenary session as opportunities for a wide range of interested organizations to get updates on the IPBES process and to discuss their engagement in IPBES through informal exchange of views on specific aspects of the Plenary session’s agenda.
The IPBES Secretariat will convene, prior to the 6th session of the Plenary, a two-day stakeholder meeting from 16 to 17 March 2018.
Registration is required to attend the Stakeholder Days. Stakeholders – including countries’ delegates - who want to participate are kindly requested to indicate this on the dedicated field in the meeting registration form (https://www.ipbes.net/registration/ipbes-6) and to contact the IPBES-6 Stakeholder Days project team via email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), should they need more information. Participants are invited to note that no financial support is available for the stakeholder day, and that an invitation letter can be provided for visa purposes.
Meeting documents
Working and information documents for the meeting are available at https://www.ipbes.net/event/ipbes-6-plenary
A reduced paper meeting
To make the meeting as environmentally friendly as possible, a paperless meeting system will be used, whereby participants are encouraged to access the designated website (https://www.ipbes.net/event/ipbes-6-plenary) for all pre-session and in-session documentation. A limited number of paper copies will also be made available. To that end, participants are strongly encouraged to bring their personal laptops to the meeting and to ensure that their laptops are loaded with up-to-date antivirus software.
Interpretation
Simultaneous interpretation into the six official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) will be provided for all the plenary meetings, and for some meetings of the contact groups. For the contact groups to consider, in parallel, items 6 (a) to (d) on the respective regional assessments, interpretation into the following languages will be provided:
• Regional and subregional assessment for Africa: Arabic, English, French
• Regional and subregional assessment for the Americas: English and Spanish;
• Regional and subregional assessment for Asia-Pacific: Arabic; Chinese, English;
• Regional and subregional assessment for Europe and Central Asia: English, French, Russian, Spanish.
Daily coverage of the meeting
Daily IISD coverage of the meeting will be made available at http://www.iisd.ca (The link will be provided prior to the event)
Follow IPBES to receive tweets about the event: http://twitter.com/IPBES
Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/ipbes
Opening Ceremony of the Plenary
The official opening of the plenary will take place on Saturday 17 March at 5.30 pm and will be followed be reception hosted by the Government of Colombia.?
DSA disbursement and travel
Delegates from Parties eligible for funding will need a copy of their passport or other official identification (with photo ID), flight ticket and boarding pass stubs when claiming DSA. The venue and timings for collections of daily subsistence allowance (DSA) will be communicated at the time of registration.
DSA payment for this meeting is made through a Value cash Card. Therefore, the DSA entitlement is downloaded on the card and not received by cash. The card allows its owner to withdraw the full amount at any ATM machine or use it to pay the expenses at the hotel, restaurants and shops. The Secretariat will inform when the card is activated and when participants can start using it.
Registration schedule
All delegates are requested to register on arrival at the meeting venue. A valid identification document with photo, such as a passport will be required at registration. Registration will open at the following times:• 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Friday, March 16, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Saturday, March 17, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Sunday, March 18, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Monday, March 19, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 20, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 21, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Thursday, March 22, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Friday, March 23, 2018
• 7:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., Saturday, March 24, 2018
Credentials
Each Member of the Platform is required to submit the official credentials of its representative, together with the names of alternate representatives and advisers, to the secretariat. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure adopted for IPBES, the credentials must be issued by or on behalf of the Member’s Head of State or Government or Minister for Foreign Affairs consistent with each country’s policies and law. Each Member is encouraged to upload a copy of the credentials in advance of the meeting. This can be done at the time of registration or after using the edit link which is provided in the confirmation email that is sent after registration.
The original credentials should be submitted as soon as possible, but no later than 24 hours after the opening of the session. Only Members that have submitted valid credentials will have the right to take part in decision making at the session.
Accreditation of non-Government observers
Participation by observers in this sixth session requires accreditation. Observers need to have completed the online registration form (at https://www.ipbes.net/registration/ipbes-6). Please note that registration for Stakeholder Day does not grant access to the sixth session of the IPBES Plenary. Observers admitted to a previous session of the Plenary (please see here: https://www.ipbes.net/accredited-organizations) will be admitted to the sixth session of the Plenary once they have applied through the online form. The Plenary will decide on the admission of new observers in accordance with the interim procedure described in paragraph 22 of the report of the first session of the Plenary (IPBES/1/12). Participants from non-accredited organizations, who would like to get their organization considered for accreditation as an observer for this session of the Plenary, are requested to provide information about their organization as part of the online form.
Information for developing country government representatives requiring financial support and distribution of daily subsistence allowance (DSA)
IPBES is able, upon request, to provide financial support for one representative from each developing country to cover travel expenses corresponding to the most economical and direct flights to Medellin. IPBES will only be able to provide such funding for participants holding valid credentials or otherwise officially nominated by their Government to attend the meeting. The nomination letter should spell out the name of the nominated delegate who should be receiving the funds. Supported delegates will need to provide a copy of their passport or other official identification (with photo ID), flight ticket and boarding pass stubs when claiming the daily subsistence allowance (DSA). Information about the venue and timings for collections of DSA should be obtained from the registration desk at the time of registration. DSA payment for this meeting will be made through a value cash card. Therefore, the DSA entitlement is credited on the card and not received by cash. The card allows its owner to withdraw the full amount at any ATM machine or use it to pay the expenses at the hotel, restaurants and shops. The Secretariat will inform supported participants when the card is activated. Supported delegates are requested to bring some money because the cash cards can take up to 2 days to be activated.
Badges
Identity badges will be issued to participants upon registration. For security reasons, all delegates are requested to wear their badge always.
List of delegates
Delegates are reminded that the list of participants is based on the information provided by them at the time of registration and that inclusion in the list of participants is conditional upon official registration. Delegates are requested to confirm the correctness of the information they provided in their registration which will be sent by email1 immediately after registration. A list of participants will be available on the IPBES website as soon as possible after the start of the meeting. Delegates are requested to check the entries carefully and make any necessary changes using the edit link provided in the registration confirmation email sent immediately after registration or submit any corrections to the registration desk.