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This collection of essays brings together scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds, based on three continents, with different theoretical and methodological interests but all active on the topic of complex systems as applied to international relations. They investigate how complex systems have been and can be applied in practice and what differences it makes for the study of international affairs. Two important threads link all the contributions: (i) To which extent is this approach promising to understand global governance dynamics? (ii) How can this be implemented in practice?

DIVERSITAS, the international programme on biodiversity science, is releasing a strategic vision presenting scientific challenges for the next decade of research on biodiversity and ecosystem services: “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Science for a Sustainable Planet”. This new vision is a response of the biodiversity and ecosystem services scientific community to the accelerating loss of the components of biodiversity, as well as to changes in the biodiversity science-policy landscape (establishment of a Biodiversity Observing Network — GEO BON, of an Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services — IPBES, of the new Future Earth initiative; and release of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020). This article presents the vision and its core scientific challenges.

We conducted case studies in Ecuador to assess subnational governments’ implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and to identify factors linked with successful implementation. We anticipated resources to be the main limiting factor, yet the record of implementation is not as closely tied to the availability of financial and human resources as might be expected in a developing country. Governments, in diverse sociopolitical and economic contexts, do have alternatives to implement multilateral environmental agreements. The type of development leaders promote and the priority they grant to environmental issues determine the use of available resources. We also observed the significant role played by local, national, and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and funding agencies in circulating biodiversity messages and spurring the elaboration of policies as well as on the ground projects. This picture would suggest to enhance awareness-raising trainings and to explore further the role of collaboration between governments and NGOs at local scales.