Global South leadership is key to achieving post-2020 conservation targets. To support this, we recently established the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Indonesia Species Specialist Group, conducting the first workshop on 15 June 2023, in Bogor, attended offline and online by the advisory group and founding members from across Indonesia. The new specialist group aims to coordinate nationwide expertise across taxonomic groups and disciplines to support the government and other stakeholders in efforts to reverse the decline of biodiversity through evidence-based decision-making and policy development. The group will be the nexus of diverse stakeholders to accommodate the growing number of Indonesian experts, including the new generation of conservationists; increase the representation of understudied taxonomic groups and regions; and advocate the use of science in decision-making, to establish the national Red List index as an indicator for the Indonesian Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

The process of establishing the group began in 2019 by convening Indonesian members of several IUCN SSC Specialist Groups and representatives from the Society of Conservation Biology Indonesia to develop a concept note. This note was then discussed with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and National Research and Innovation Agency, and revised accordingly to synergize the aim of the Specialist Group with the aspirations and conservation plans of the Indonesian government. We further aligned the programmes of the Specialist Group with the IUCN Species Strategic Plan 2021–2025 to support the implementation of the Species Conservation Cycle (Assess–Plan–Act, Communicate and Network).

The initial membership of the Specialist Group comprises 87 Indonesian experts, mostly from western Indonesia and working on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and plants. During the workshop, we identified key activities under the Species Conservation Cycle to be implemented by 2025: (1) Assess: to support comprehensive evaluation of biodiversity status by creating guidelines of the IUCN Red List assessment process in Bahasa Indonesia and arranging expert regional training to conduct assessments. (2) Plan: to prioritize and formulate action plans for Indonesian native, threatened and endemic species. (3) Act: to support and catalyse initiatives to conserve priority species by conducting training on species conservation planning and guiding the implementation of the plan. (4) Network: for the Specialist Group to be an effective and well-coordinated platform to facilitate collaboration among Indonesian experts and establish equitable partnerships with international experts. (5) Communicate: to arrange regular webinars and outreach activities to showcase the work of the members and to increase awareness among the public about Indonesian biodiversity. The Indonesia Species Specialist Group is hosted in the Center for Transdisciplinary and Sustainability Sciences, IPB University. We hope the establishment of this new Specialist Group may inspire similar initiatives across the Global South.