The 'IPBES introduction for stakeholders' outlines the functioning and work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It is meant as a guide for newcomers who are interested in why IPBES was installed, how it is structured or what functions e.g. the Plenary of member states or the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) have. The four functions of IPBES (assessments, capacity building, knowledge generation, policy tools) are explained and how the work programme is covering these functions. It is mentioned what IPBES is doing and how participation in this multilateral agreement works for countries, organisations or individual scientists. The process of developing an assessment from a request to a final product is explained in detail. The products that IPBES has developed up to mid 2019 are introduced as well. This includes regional and global assessments on the status of biodiversity and related ecosystem services as well as thematic assessments on pollination or on land degradation and restoration. The English text of the book is also presented in Russian in order to make it useful especially for people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia who are not comfortable with the information presented on the IPBES web site in English only. It was developed as part of a capacity building project by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation implemented by the German-based Institute for Biodiversity - Network.