To tackle the current global environmental crisis, operational science‐policy interfaces are needed. The Intergovernmental Science‐policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provides governments with policy advice via its assessment reports. To expand the evidence‐base and to support the uptake of IPBES products, participation needs to be balanced across the globe. We found imbalance in authors’ distribution at both the UN regional and country level. It is more pronounced for IPBES‐related scientific papers than for the IPBES global assessment. The more detached from politics the decision of getting involved is, the more imbalanced the representation of the regions becomes. To improve the IPBES’ geographical balance, a strategy to increase the number of active member states is called for. We argued that without explicit efforts to reach the balance—for example, providing an attractive research environment for excellent researchers in their home country, improving cooperation among countries across the UN regions, and granting publication opportunity for all authors—the idea of geographic equality diminishes.

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如何减少IPBES和相关科学中的地理偏见？

为了解决当前的全球环境危机，需要运营科学与政策的接口。政府间生物多样性和生态系统服务科学政策平台（IPBES）通过其评估报告为政府提供政策建议。为了扩大证据基础并支持IPBES产品的使用，需要在全球范围内平衡参与。我们发现联合国区域和国家/地区的作者分布不平衡。与IPBES相关的科学论文比IPBES全球评估更为明显。参与决策越脱离政治，区域代表就越不平衡。为了改善IPBES的地域平衡，需要一种增加活跃成员国数量的策略。