At its third session, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Plenary adopted a number of capacity-building priorities, and the IPBES capacity-building rolling plan identifies approaches for enhancing the capacity of individuals and institutions based on these approved priority needs. It also contains a list of relevant activities IPBES plans to carry out; both with partners and independently. One of the priority needs to be addressed in the rolling plan is to support countries to implement national ecosystem assessments.In order to address this need, the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) has initiated a project to support four pilot countries (Cameroon, Colombia, Ethiopia and Viet Nam) with carrying out national ecosystem assessments. For this project, UNEP-WCMC is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), under the framework of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) and with the financial support of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). This has been followed by a second project with a further four countries (Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia and Grenada), and the inclusion of more partner organizations.