All businesses depend on and impact nature; All can be positive agents of change; Report highlights methods and 100+ actions to measure and respond to business impacts and dependencies for businesses, governments, financial actors and civil society

Manchester, UK —  Every business depends on biodiversity, and every business impacts biodiversity. The growth of the global economy has been at the cost of immense biodiversity loss, which now poses a critical and pervasive systemic risk to the economy, financial stability and human wellbeing. This is a central finding of a landmark new report published today by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Even companies that might seem far-removed from nature or that do not see themselves as nature-based rely, directly or indirectly, on material inputs, regulation of environmental conditions – such as flood mitigation and water supply – and non-material contributions such as spaces for tourism, recreation, education, and spiritual, aesthetic and cultural values. But businesses often bear little or no financial cost for their negative impacts and many cannot currently generate revenue from positive impacts on biodiversity.

Approved by representatives of the more than 150 member Governments of IPBES, during the 12th session of the IPBES Plenary, hosted in Manchester, United Kingdom, the IPBES Methodological Assessment Report on the Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People (known as the Business and Biodiversity Report), finds that businesses are central to halting and reversing biodiversity loss, but that many often lack information to address their impacts and dependencies, as well as the risks and opportunities relating to biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.

Enabling environment necessary for business action

Prepared over three years by 79 leading experts from 35 countries and all regions of the world, drawn from science and the private sector, in consultation with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the Report finds that the current conditions in which businesses operate are not always compatible with achieving a just and sustainable future, and that these conditions also perpetuate systemic risks.

Businesses often face inadequate or perverse incentives, barriers that hinder efforts to reverse nature’s decline, an institutional environment with insufficient support, enforcement and compliance, as well as significant gaps in data and knowledge. These combine with business models that result in ever-increasing material consumption and an emphasis on reporting quarterly earnings, to contribute to the degradation of nature around the world. The Report makes the point that fundamental change is possible and necessary to create an enabling environment to align what is profitable for business with what is beneficial for biodiversity and people.

“This Report draws on thousands of sources, bringing together years of research and practice into a single integrated framework that shows both the risks of nature loss to business, and the opportunities for business to help reverse this,” said Matt Jones (UK), one of three Co-chairs of the Assessment. “This is a pivotal moment for businesses and financial institutions, as well as Governments and civil society, to cut through the confusion of countless methods and metrics, and to use the clarity and coherence offered by the Report to take meaningful steps towards transformative change. Businesses and other key actors can either lead the way towards a more sustainable global economy or ultimately risk extinction…both of species in nature, but potentially also their own.”

Business-as-usual Incentives are Driving Nature’s Decline

Current conditions perpetuate business-as-usual and do not support the transformative change necessary to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. For example, large subsidies that drive losses of biodiversity are directed to business activities with the support of lobbying by businesses and trade associations. In 2023, global public and private finance flows with directly negative impacts on nature, were estimated at $7.3 trillion, of which private finance accounted for $4.9 trillion, with public spending on environmentally harmful subsidies of about $2.4 trillion. 

In contrast, $220 billion in public and private finance flows were directed in 2023 to activities contributing to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity, representing just 3% of the public funds and incentives that encourage harmful business behaviour or prevent behaviour beneficial to biodiversity.

“The loss of biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business”, said Prof. Stephen Polasky (USA), Co-chair of the Assessment. “Yet the twisted reality is that it often seems more profitable to businesses to degrade biodiversity than to protect it. Business as usual may once have seemed profitable in the short term, but impacts across multiple businesses can have cumulative effects, aggregating to global impacts, which can cross ecological tipping points. The Report shows that business as usual is not inevitable – with the right policies, as well as financial and cultural shifts, what is good for nature is also what is best for profitability. To get there, the Report offers tools for choosing more effective measurements and analysis.”

Measuring Impacts and Dependencies  

The Report finds that a wide range of methods and data exist for measuring business impacts and dependencies, which can already inform decisions and action, but that more is known about applying methods for assessing impacts than for measuring dependencies. The application and uptake of methods is found to be low and uneven across and within business sectors and locales, with less than 1% of publicly reporting companies mentioning their impacts on biodiversity in their reports.

A recent survey among financial institutions representing 30% of global market capitalisation value found that the three most cited barriers to greater uptake of nature-related risk assessment and management are: a) access to reliable data, b) access to reliable models and c) access to scenarios. Prof. Polasky said: “Too often, businesses spend more time trying to decipher complex, competing frameworks for compliance and reporting than taking meaningful action. One of the powerful features of this Report is that it helps to decipher which methods, metrics and policy tools are appropriate for the scope of business, helping bring clarity and coherence to how businesses measure and report on their interactions with nature. We are moving the conversation from voluntary sustainability pledges to a science-based roadmap for system change.” 

The authors emphasize that no single method to measure and manage impacts and dependencies is suitable for all business decisions, and which aspects should be measured depends on context and the action or decision being informed – multiple methods or metrics will often be necessary. The Report proposes three overarching characteristics that can be used to assess which methods are most appropriate for any business, of any size or sector: coverage (geographic as well as the extent of impacts and dependencies included); accuracy (the degree to which results correctly describe what they are designed to measure); and responsiveness (the ability of the method to detect changes that can be attributed to the actions and activities of the business).

Decisions at the operational level require site-specific information, generated through ‘bottom-up’ approaches including location-based observations, participatory monitoring and mapping, and spatial analysis built on these data sources. Approaches more appropriate at the portfolio, corporate and value chain levels include ‘top-down’ methods such as life cycle approaches and macro-scale environmental economic models. Depending on the purpose of measurement, they can be conducted with lower spatial resolution data but wider geographic coverage.

Another key finding is that business could improve the measurement and management of impacts and dependencies through appropriate engagement with science and Indigenous and local knowledge. “Data and knowledge are often siloed,” said Prof. Ximena Rueda (Colombia), Co-chair of the Assessment. “Scientific literature is not written for businesses and a lack of translation and attention to the needs of business has slowed uptake of scientific findings. Among business there is also often limited understanding and recognition of Indigenous Peoples and local communities as stewards of biodiversity and, therefore, holders of knowledge on its conservation, restoration and sustainable use.” 

Industrial development threatens 60% of Indigenous lands around the world and a quarter of all Indigenous territories are under high pressure from resource exploitation, but Indigenous Peoples and local communities often find themselves marginalised in business research and decision-making. “Respectful collaboration resulting in the sharing and better use of data, scientific insights and Indigenous and local knowledge can translate into better management of business risk and opportunities,” said Prof. Rueda.

Priorities and options for business action

The Report makes it clear that all businesses, including financial institutions, have a responsibility to act and could take further actions, given an enabling environment, on their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem services. Although trade-offs exist that prevent some transformative actions, the authors point to many actions that businesses can take now that benefit business and biodiversity – such as increasing efficiency and reducing waste and emissions. Specific options for business action that can be taken now to address their impacts and dependencies on nature are included as a table below.

“Better engagement with nature is not optional for business – it is a necessity”, said Prof. Rueda. “This is vital for their bottom line, long-term prosperity and the transformative change needed for a more just and sustainable futures. To avoid greenwashing though, it is essential that businesses have transparent and credible strategies, which clearly demonstrate their actions and how they contribute to biodiversity outcomes  and that they publicly disclose their impacts and dependencies as well as their lobbying activities”.

The Report explores both actions that can be taken by businesses themselves within their control and ‘signalling’ actions that can publicly influence and inspire action by others. Actions of each type can be pursued by businesses across four decision-making levels: corporate, operations, value-chain and portfolio.

The authors acknowledge that while there is a large existing knowledge base to guide action by businesses, there are also important gaps in knowledge and its application that constrain the ability of all actors to fully understand and effectively manage business activities. The Report groups these gaps as follows: business-relvant data; data accessibility and transparency; incomplete evidence; low adoption of methods and limitations of methods – suggesting five sets of actions to address these priorities.

100+ Concrete Actions for Governments, Financial Actors & Civil Society

Another central message of the Report is that businesses cannot, by themselves, deliver the scale of change needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. Collaboration, collective and individual actions are essential to create an enabling environment where businesses contribute to a just and sustainable future.

Five specific components are identified as central to such an enabling environment: policy, legal and regulatory frameworks; economic and financial systems; social values, norms and culture; technology and data; and capacity and knowledge. The Report provides more than 100 specific examples of concrete actions that can be taken, across each of these five components, by businesses, governments, financial actors and civil society. A table of these actions is attached. 

“Better stewardship of biodiversity is central to managing risk across the whole of the economy and throughout societies – it’s not some distant environmental issue, but a core challenge now in every boardroom and cabinet-room,” said Prof. Polasky. “We need to move beyond the fallacy of a binary choice between governments and decision-makers being either pro-environment or pro-business. All business depends on nature, so actions that conserve and sustainably use nature can also be those that help businesses thrive in the long-term. One of the innovations of this Report is that it provides a template for accelerating collaboration and collective actions at all levels among and by governments, financial actors,  other actors including civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, consumers, NGOs, international organisations, and academia in addition to the action needed by businesses and financial institutions themselves.”

Vital Guidance to Achieve Global Goals

Speaking about the significance of the Business and Biodiversity Report, Dr. David Obura, Chair of IPBES said: “This first-ever fast-track IPBES Assessment Report was delivered with urgency as we begin the second half of this decade, at the request of our Governments, as a vital contribution to efforts by businesses, governments, financial actors and the whole of society to meet the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It relates very directly to Target 15 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which focuses on businesses, but ultimately to all our shared global goals because businesses are at the centre of how our economies, and large parts of our society, depend on and impact nature”.

“We thank the Co-chairs and all the authors of this Assessment,” said Dr. Luthando Dziba, Executive Secretary of IPBES. “This Report builds very directly on the insights and evidence of many earlier IPBES Assessments – particularly the 2019 Global Assessment, the 2022 Values Assessment and the 2024 Nexus and Transformative Change Assessments – offering much-needed clarity and coherence to guide actions by business and all decision-makers. Nature is everybody’s business and the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity is central to business sustainability and success.”

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By the Numbers – Key Statistics and Findings from the Report

• $1.18 trillion-$130.11 trillion: Growth of the global economy between 1820 and 2022 (in 2011 dollars)
• +100% vs -40%: Average per capita increase in human produced capital since 1992, versus reduction in stocks of natural capital
• $7.3 trillion: Global public and private finance flows in 2023 with directly negative impacts on nature, of which private finance accounted for $4.9 trillion, with public spending on environmentally harmful subsidies of about $2.4 trillion
• $220 billion: Global public and private finance flows directed in 2023 to activities contributing to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity.
• <1%: Publicly reporting companies that mention biodiversity impacts in their reports
• 60%: Share of Indigenous lands globally threatened by industrial development
• 25%:Share of Indigenous territories under high pressure from resource exploitation
• At least 8: Number of countries (along with the European Union) in which central banks have analysed their financial institutions’ exposure to dependencies on biodiversity

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IPBES Partner Comments

Nature remains one of the most undervalued foundations of our global economy, despite underpinning food systems, supply chains, and long-term prosperity. At a time when some may question the role of science, IPBES continues to lead the way and provide independent, authoritative evidence – because science-based decision making is not optional, it is essential. 

The first-ever Business and Biodiversity Assessment reinforces this role. It will give decision-makers clear evidence of how businesses depend on nature, how they impact it, and what this means for risk, resilience, and long-term value. By identifying risks early, we can help prevent escalating costs – higher food prices, rising insurance premiums, and economic instability – affecting families and communities worldwide. 

Time is not on our side, but this Assessment offers a clear pathway on how we can align economic decision-making with environmental reality, delivering lasting benefits for people and for the planet.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Businesses across the agrifood systems both depend on and significantly impact biodiversity.  To build a resilient future, we need to transform these systems to ensure the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

By effectively assessing and managing their relationship with nature, businesses can strengthen their resilience, drive innovation, and establish themselves as leaders in the global economy. Every business along the value chain has a role in advancing sustainable practices that support biodiversity. Key actions include scaling up investments in innovative, biodiversity-friendly technologies across production, processing, distribution and consumption, as well as implementing robust systems to monitor and report the impacts of their business operations.

As a UN Collaborative Partner of IPBES, FAO supports agrifood businesses in enhancing their biodiversity performance, meeting recognized standards, and conducting risk-based due diligence.

This new IPBES assessment offers a timely analysis of such measures, providing crucial data for decision-makers dedicated to building agrifood systems that are more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

QU Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Biodiversity underpins every economy and every society. It generates jobs and income, regulates the climate, and sustains food, water, and health systems. Yet its very dependability hides the scale of our reliance on its continued stability. Too often, biodiversity is an invisible and expendable asset on a balance sheet. That is changing. Awareness is now accelerating of the risks to development if biodiversity fails—and of the economic opportunities and future prosperity that emerge where it thrives.

This IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment makes a vital contribution to exposing and explaining how business, economies, and development ambitions depend on biodiversity. Through our Nature Pledge, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works alongside countries and our many partners to align economic progress with the protection and restoration of Nature. Our initiatives such as the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) and our work supporting the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures reveal growing investor and policymaker demand for actionable information. UNDP therefore strongly welcomes the assessment’s focus on advancing categorization, methodologies, standardization, and other dimensions essential to scaling the value and integration of biodiversity into decision-making.

Nature-positive business transformation—aligned with global biodiversity commitments and strengthened through collaboration with governments, local communities, and Indigenous Peoples—is a fast-track to resilient, inclusive, and sustainable development. This approach is now far from optional. It is essential to our collective future.

Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Businesses are inseparable from the ecosystems they operate in: they both depend on them and profoundly impact them. As significant drivers of today’s planetary crises, businesses have contributed to climate change, biodiversity loss and cultural erosion. At the same time, they have a critical role to play in advancing more sustainable solutions, a role already reflected in a growing number of initiatives.  

UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves is a strong example. These sites serve as living laboratories where biodiversity conservation, resilient livelihoods, cultural diversity and human wellbeing can reinforce one another. Through this network, UNESCO contributes in a concrete way to the implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, by promoting solutions rooted in places, communities and long-term balance between people and nature.

UNESCO is particularly proud to have contributed to this assessment by supporting the inclusion of Indigenous and local knowledge. Indigenous Peoples and local communities are often among the first to experience the impacts of unsustainable and extractive business practices, and frequently bear disproportionate social, cultural and ecological costs. At the same time, their knowledge, values and governance systems offer important insights into economic models that prioritize balance, reciprocity and long-term stewardship of nature. Recognizing and respecting these knowledge systems is a necessary condition for building sustainable, inclusive and effective responses to biodiversity crisis worldwide. 

In this context, UNESCO warmly welcomes this new IPBES assessment as an important contribution to advancing our shared understanding and collective action for biodiversity.

Khaled El-Enany, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

The IPBES Business and Biodiversity report is a crucial contribution to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly its Target 15, which is about businesses assessing and disclosing biodiversity-related risks and impacts. This is key not only to a better understanding of the centrality of biodiversity to value chains, but also to taking action to change business models, reduce negative and increase positive biodiversity impacts.

All businesses depend on nature. Some are very obviously exposed to risks stemming from resource depletion or environmental degradation; others may need to dig deeper to understand the breadth of their dependencies and impacts on biodiversity. Hidden risks can range from breaching regulatory frameworks to damaging the company’s brand. 

In any case, biodiversity is never a marginal issue. It lies at the crux of what makes companies thrive or flounder: value chain resilience.

In too many boardrooms and offices around the world, there is a still a dearth of awareness of biodiversity protection as a business investment.  And too often, public policy still incentivises behaviour that drives biodiversity loss.

Transformative change is both necessary and possible. With the right business mindset supported by the right incentives, thriving in harmony with nature is within reach. 

Congratulations to IPBES on showing the way. 

Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary,  Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

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For enquiries and interviews please contact:

The IPBES Media Team

ipbes.media@gmail.com; 

www.ipbes.net

+1-416-878-8712 or or +1-850-252-3931

IPBES has now released the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Business and Biodiversity Report. The SPM presents the key messages and policy options, as approved by the IPBES Plenary. To access the SPM, photos, ‘B-roll’ and other media resources go to: https://ipbes.canto.de/v/IPBES12Media. As always with IPBES assessments, the full Report (including all data) will be published once the necessary edits have been made based on the final approved version of the Summary for Policymakers –in a matter of a months after the launch of the Summary for Policymakers.

This Summary for Policymakers should be cited as: IPBES (2026). Summary for Policymakers of the Methodological Assessment Report on the Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People. Jones M., Polasky S., Rueda X., Brooks S., Carter Ingram J., Egoh B. N., von Hase A., Kohsaka R., Kulak M., Leach K., Loyola R., Mandle L., Rodriguez-Osuna V., Schaafsma M. and Sonter L. J. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15369060

About IPBES:

Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 150 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit www.ipbes.net

Video introduction to IPBES: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiGio7YU-M

Additional videos:

• IPBES Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health (2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H6aW_j2oSA 
• IPBES Thematic Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity (2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCjEU9cPr0
• IPBES Thematic Assessment on Invasive Alien Species and Their Control (2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybg4qxfoUIo 
• PBES Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature (2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jju7gD2XYE&t=238s 
• IPBES Assessment on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species (2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflgQkb3c8Q&t=12s 
• IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019): https://youtu.be/7eYK5ibTOMA 
• IPBES Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration (2018): www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCt7aai17Nk 
• IPBES Regional Assessments of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2018): www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0HeepbWCc 
• IPBES Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production (2016): www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwkYbeiwK5A 
• IPBES Assessment of Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity (2016):  www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZfcDmtGa9I

Follow IPBES on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/ipbes  

Listen to our podcast: https://bit.ly/IPBESPodcast 

Coverage highlights

Businesses face extinction unless they protect nature, major report warns
BBC News via Yahoo! News, United States (47,489,908)

When ‘transformative change’ meets political reality
Financial Times (Moral Money Column), United Kingdom (22,400,000)

More than 150 Countries Agree That Focus on GDP Harms Nature
Bloomberg, United States (21,825,285)

Companies told to protect nature now or face extinction themselves
Reuters newswire via MSN, United States (99,756,141)

Biodiversity loss: businesses also risk “extinction,” warn scientists
Les Echos, France (6,875,153)

Investing in life: what lies behind a biodiversity portfolio
Les Echos (commentary), France (6,875,153)

U.N. body confirms what we have known for decades: Companies that pillage nature risk extinction
Reuters (commentary), United States (45,139,177)

“Biodiversity loss is one of the most serious threats to businesses,” scientists warn
France Télévisions via francetv info, France (25,060,401)

Report: Without nature conservation, companies risk their future
Deutsche Presse Agentur newswire via t-online.de, Germany (18,210,152)

Time to align economic practice with ecological reality: the critical need to include nature in macroeconomic models
London School of Economics, United Kingdom 

This Is What Collapse Feels Like: Nothing
Medium, United States (45,225,719)

“Those who destroy nature endanger their own economy.”
Focus Online, Germany (13,461,430)

“Change course or die out”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Print Edition), Germany (263,910)

The economy that devours the planet
El País, Spain (36,902,599)

Analysis: “Biodiversity loss is one of the most serious threats to businesses,” warns a report
Libération, France (11,000,000)

UN report aims to map out ways to make business and biodiversity both sustainable
Globe and Mail, Canada (6,600,000)

World Biodiversity Council: Environmental protection must be good for business
Der Tagesspiegel, Germany (14,248,647)

Business and biodiversity: moving forward together – Businesses play a central role in restoring nature
Asahi Shimbun, Japan (33,632,776)

Global organization sounds biodiversity alarm: $113 trillion spent on nature annually
Nikkei Business, Japan (3,289,618)

Why financial leadership on nature matters for sustainable growth
World Economic Forum, Switzerland (2,808,455)

Environment: Many investments have a negative impact on biodiversity
Mainichi Shimbun, Japan (22,931,492)

Less than 1% of companies worldwide report impacts on biodiversity, says UN study.
Valor Econômico, Brazil (3,632,054)

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

1) Nexus Assessment Report: Tackle together five interlinked global crises in biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change

>70 response options assessed for maximum co-benefits across cascading or compounding crises; Unaccounted-for costs of current approaches estimated to be at least US$10-25 trillion per year

Environmental, social and economic crises – such as biodiversity loss, water and food insecurity, health risks and climate change – are all interconnected. They interact, cascade and compound each other in ways that make separate efforts to address them ineffective and counterproductive. 

A landmark new report was launched today by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The Assessment Report on the Interlinkages Among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health – known as the Nexus Report – offers decision-makers around the world the most ambitious scientific assessment ever undertaken of these complex interconnections and explores more than five dozen specific response options to maximize co-benefits across five ‘nexus elements’: biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change.

Approved on Monday by the 11^th session of the IPBES Plenary, composed of representatives of the 147 Governments that are members of IPBES, the report is the product of three years of work by 165 leading international experts from 57 countries from all regions of the world. It finds that existing actions to address these challenges fail to tackle the complexity of interlinked problems and result in inconsistent governance. 

“We have to move decisions and actions beyond single issue silos to better manage, govern and improve the impact of actions in one nexus element on other elements,” said Prof. Paula Harrison (United Kingdom), co-chair of the Assessment with Prof. Pamela McElwee (USA). “Take for example the health challenge of schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) – a parasitic disease that can cause life-long ill health and which affects more than 200 million people worldwide – especially in Africa. Treated only as a health challenge – usually through medication – the problem often recurs as people are reinfected. An innovative project in rural Senegal took a different approach – reducing water pollution and removing invasive water plants to reduce the habitat for the snails that host the parasitic worms that carry the disease – resulting in a 32% reduction in infections in children, improved access to freshwater and new revenue for the local communities.” 

“The best way to bridge single issue silos is through integrated and adaptive decision-making. ‘Nexus approaches’ offer policies and actions that are more coherent and coordinated – moving us towards the transformative change needed to meet our development and sustainability goals,” said Prof. McElwee.

Past and Current Challenges

The report states that biodiversity – the richness and variety of all life on Earth – is declining at every level from global to local, and across every region. These ongoing declines in nature, largely as a result of human activity, including climate change, have direct and dire impacts on food security and nutrition, water quality and availability, health and wellbeing outcomes, resilience to climate change and almost all of nature’s other contributions to people.

Building on previous IPBES reports, in particular the 2022 Values Assessment Report and the 2019 Global Assessment Report, which identified the most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss, including land- and sea-use change, unsustainable exploitation, invasive alien species and pollution, the Nexus Report further underscores how indirect socioeconomic drivers, such as increasing waste, overconsumption and population growth, intensify the direct drivers – worsening impacts on all parts of the nexus. The majority of 12 assessed indicators across these indirect drivers – such as GDP, population levels and overall food supply, have all increased or accelerated since 2001. 

“Efforts of Governments and other stakeholders have often failed to take into account indirect drivers and their impact on interactions between nexus elements because they remain fragmented, with many institutions working in isolation – often resulting in conflicting objectives, inefficiencies and negative incentives, leading to unintended consequences,” said Prof. Harrison.

The report highlights that more than half of global gross domestic product – more than $50 trillion of annual economic activity around the world – is moderately to highly dependent on nature. “But current decision making has prioritized short-term financial returns while ignoring costs to nature, and failed to hold actors to account for negative economic pressures on the natural world. It is estimated that the unaccounted-for costs of current approaches to economic activity – reflecting impacts on biodiversity, water, health and climate change, including from food production – are at least $10-25 trillion per year,” said Prof. McElwee.

The existence of such unaccounted-for costs, alongside direct public subsidies to economic activities that have negative impacts on biodiversity (approximately $1.7 trillion per year), enhances private financial incentives to invest in economic activities that cause direct damage to nature (approximately $5.3 trillion per year), in spite of growing evidence of biophysical risks to economic progress and financial stability.

Delaying the action needed to meet policy goals will also increase the costs of delivering it. Delayed action on biodiversity goals, for example, could as much as double costs – also increasing the probability of irreplaceable losses such as species extinctions. Delayed action on climate change adds at least $500 billion per year in additional costs for meeting policy targets. 

Unequal Impacts and Need for Inclusive Decision-Making

“Another key message from the report is that the increasingly negative effects of intertwined global crises have very unequal impacts, disproportionately affecting some more than others,” said Prof. Harrison. 

More than half of the world’s population is living in areas experiencing the highest impacts from declines in biodiversity, water availability and quality and food security, and increases in health risks and negative effects of climate change. These burdens especially affect developing countries, including small island developing states, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as well as those in vulnerable situations in higher-income countries. 41% of people live in areas that saw extremely strong declines in biodiversity between 2000 and 2010, 9% in areas that have experienced very high health burdens and 5% in areas with high levels of malnutrition.

Some efforts – such as research and innovation, education and environmental regulations – have been partially successful in improving trends across nexus elements, but the report finds these are unlikely to succeed without addressing interlinkages more fully and tackling indirect drivers like trade and consumption. Decision-making that is more inclusive, with a particular focus on equity, can help ensure those most affected are included in solutions, in addition to larger economic and financial reforms.

Future Scenarios

The report also examines future challenges – assessing 186 different scenarios from 52 separate studies, which project interactions between three or more of the nexus elements, mostly covering the periods up to 2050 and 2100.

A key message from this analysis is that if current “business as usual” trends in direct and indirect drivers of change continue, the outcomes will be extremely poor for biodiversity, water quality and human health – with worsening climate change and increasing challenges to meet global policy goals. 

Similarly, a focus on trying to maximize the outcomes for only one part of the nexus in isolation will likely result in negative outcomes for the other nexus elements. For example, a ‘food first’ approach prioritizes food production with positive benefits on nutritional health, arising from unsustainable intensification of production and increased per capita consumption. This has negative impacts on biodiversity, water and climate change. An exclusive focus on climate change can result in negative outcomes for biodiversity and food, reflecting competition for land. Weak environmental regulation, made worse by delays, results in worsening impacts for biodiversity, food, human health and climate change. 

“Future scenarios do exist that have positive outcomes for people and nature by providing co-benefits across the nexus elements,” said Prof Harrison. “The future scenarios with the widest nexus benefits are those with actions that focus on sustainable production and consumption in combination with conserving and restoring ecosystems, reducing pollution, and mitigating and adapting to climate change.”

An important aim of IPBES work is to provide the science and evidence needed to support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Nexus Report shows that scenarios focusing on synergies among biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change have the best likely outcomes for the SDGs – and that focusing on addressing the challenges in just one sector – such as food, biodiversity or climate change in isolation – seriously limits the chances of meeting other goals.

Response Options

The report shows that there are a significant number of responses – on a policy, political and community level – currently available to sustainably manage across biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change, some of which are also low cost. 

The authors present more than 70 of these ‘response options’ to help manage the nexus elements synergistically, representing 10 broad categories of action. Examples of these response options that have broadly positive impacts across nexus elements are: restoring carbon-rich ecosystems such as forests, soils, mangroves; managing biodiversity to reduce risk of diseases spreading from animals to humans; improving integrated landscape and seascape management; urban nature-based solutions; sustainable healthy diets; and supporting Indigenous food systems.

Other response options are important, but may not have as many synergistic benefits for all nexus elements. Some, such as offshore wind power and dams, may have negative impacts on other nexus elements if not carefully implemented.

The more than 70 response options presented in the report, taken together, support the achievement of all 17 SDGs, all 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the long-term goals for climate change mitigation and adaptation of the Paris Agreement. Twenty four of the response options advance more than five SDGs and more than five of the Global Biodiversity Framework targets. 

Implementing response options together or in sequence can further improve their positive impacts and achieve cost savings. Ensuring inclusive participation, such as including Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the co-design, governance and implementation of response options, can also increase the benefits and equity of these measures. 

“Some good examples include marine protected areas that have included communities in management and decision-making,” said Prof. McElwee. “These have led to increases in biodiversity, greater abundance of fish to feed people and improved incomes for local communities and often increased tourism revenues as well.”

Nexus Governance Approaches & Action

Speaking about what will be needed to advance effective responses, policies and actions, Prof. McElwee said: “Our current governance structures and approaches are not responsive enough to meet the interconnected challenges that result from the accelerated speed and scale of environmental change and rising inequalities. Fragmented and siloed institutions, as well as short-term, contradictory and non-inclusive policies have significant potential to put achievement of the global development and sustainability targets at risk. This can be addressed by moving towards ‘nexus governance approaches’: more integrated, inclusive, equitable, coordinated and adaptive approaches.”

The report offers a series of eight specific and deliberative steps to help policymakers, communities, civil society and other stakeholders identify problems and shared values in order to work together towards solutions for just and sustainable futures – presented as a graphical road map for nexus action.

Speaking about the immediate relevance and value of the report, Dr. David Obura, Chair of IPBES said: “The past two months have seen three separate major global negotiations – COP16 of both the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification, as well as COP29 of the climate Convention. Together with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDGs, it is clear that the Governments of the world are working harder than ever before to address the global challenges – grounded in the environmental crises – that confront us all. The Nexus Report helps to better inform all of these actions, policies and decisions, particularly in addressing their interlinkages, and the greater benefits achieved by devising integrated solutions at all scales. I would like to thank and congratulate the co-chairs, authors and everyone who has contributed to this tremendously complex and important assessment process.”

* * * * *

By the Numbers – Key Statistics and Thematic Findings from the Report

• 2-6%: Biodiversity decline per decade across all assessed indicators for the last 30-50 years
• >50%: Global population living in areas experiencing highest impacts from declines in biodiversity, water availability and quality and food security, and increases in health risks and negative effects of climate change
• ~$58 trillion: Value in 2023 of global annual economic activity generated in sectors moderately to highly dependent on nature (i.e. more than 50% of global GDP)
• Up to $25 trillion: Annual ‘external’ costs (not considered as part of decision-making) across the fossil fuel, agriculture and fisheries sectors, reflecting the negative impacts of production and consumption in these sectors on biodiversity, climate change, water, and health
• $5.3 trillion: Annual private-sector financial flows directly damaging to biodiversity
• $1.7 trillion: Annual public subsidies incentivizing damage to biodiversity, distorting trade and increasing pressure on natural resources
• $100 billion-$300 billion: Annual value of illegal resource extraction activities including in the wildlife, timber and fish trades
• Up to $200 billion: Annual expenditure aimed at improving the status of biodiversity
• Up to $1 trillion: Estimated annual financing gap to meet global resource needs for biodiversity
• At least $4 trillion: Estimated annual financing gap to meet the SDGs in addition to the biodiversity funding gap
• Economic impacts of biodiversity loss are expected to affect developing countries, where there are also higher barriers to mobilizing sustainable financial flows (exacerbated in some cases by burdens of high debt)
• 43%: Proportion of total biodiversity-financing flows that also directly include benefits for another nexus element
• 81%: Proportion of funding for biodiversity that comes from public institutions
• $42 billion: Current funding for payments for ecosystem services, which often fund activities for both biodiversity and another nexus element like water
• €47 million: Investment by the city of Paris to help farmers transition to ecological intensification, resulting in reduced pollution and cleaner water
• 30%: Proportion of world’s land, waters and seas to be protected by 2030 under target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – supported by the scenario analysis of the assessment and can provide nexus-wide benefits if effectively managed for nature and people
• Reduction of plastics has led to increased water quality and wildlife protection, fewer floods and reductions in incidence of associated water-borne diseases
• Urban nature-based solutions that increase urban green and blue space help to manage heat island effects, improve water quality and availability and reduce air pollution, as well as reducing allergens and zoonotic disease risk
• Response options that are implemented in more equitable ways also provide greater potential benefits across the nexus elements, indicating that effectiveness and equity often are not trade-offs but go hand-in-hand
• Knowledge and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities can help successfully conserve biodiversity and sustainably manage other nexus elements. For example, strong reductions in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon were achieved after formalizing and enforcing tenure rights to territories of Indigenous Peoples and local communities

Water

• Freshwater biodiversity is being lost faster than terrestrial biodiversity. Unsustainable freshwater withdrawal, wetland degradation and forest loss have decreased water quality and climate change resilience in many areas of the world, impacting biodiversity, water and food availability with consequences for human, plant and animal
• Many marine systems globally have been overharvested and degraded through human activities
• The water cycle is regulated by ecosystem and geophysical processes – supporting biodiversity and providing many contributions that are essential to human health and well-being
• Forest cover loss decreases water regulation, quality and availability, resulting in increasing water treatment costs and negative health outcomes
• ~80%: Proportion of humanity’s demand for freshwater used to meet food production needs
• 75%: Proportion of global population in 2005 dependent on forests for accessible freshwater
• At least 50: Diseases attributable to poor water supply, water quality and sanitation
• ~33%: Reef-building coral species at high risk of extinction
• Nearly 1 billion: people living within 100km of a coral reef and who benefit from them in terms of food, medicine, protection from coastal storms and erosion, tourism and recreation and livelihoods
• Transboundary water cooperation facilitates the sustainable management of resources at the basin scale, and better collaboration between sectors and stakeholders. Improving groundwater governance through cooperation across scales, including support for community water management, increases benefits across the nexus elements, while integrated water infrastructure and water-sensitive urban infrastructure take advantage of natural systems to reduce risks from floods and other hazards, deliver benefits for food production and contribute to climate change mitigation

Food

• Increases in food production have improved health through greater caloric intake, but unsustainable agricultural practices have also resulted in loss of biodiversity, unsustainable water usage, reduced food diversity and quality, and increased pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
• Negative impacts on the nexus elements from food systems have decreased biodiversity and consequently many of nature’s contributions to people, especially through diminished regulating contributions (e.g., regulation of water quality and climate); increased non-communicable disease risks; emerging infectious diseases; and global temperatures and other climatic changes
• Global agrobiodiversity is declining, including genetic resources for food and agriculture, with impacts on ecosystem functioning, food system resilience, food security and nutrition, as well as on social (employment and health) and economic (income and productivity) systems
• Global malnutrition and inequalities in food security persist despite a decline in the total number of undernourished people –the cost of healthy diets can be high, particularly in developing countries, and consequently inaccessible to many
• Unsustainable exploitation and pollution of freshwater and marine ecosystems impact millions of people, including those highly dependent on protein-rich food obtained from these ecosystems, such as Indigenous Peoples and local communities
• 42%: Proportion of global population in 2021 unable to afford healthy diets, 86% for low-income and 70% for lower-middle income countries
• 80%: Proportion of total undernourished people who live in developing countries, primarily living in rural areas
• >800 million: People affected by food insecurity in Asia and Africa
• Nearly 3 million: Deaths in 2017 associated with diets low in whole grains
• Adopting sustainable agricultural practices (such as improving nitrogen use efficiency, integrated pest management, agroecology, agroforestry and sustainable intensification, reductions in food losses and waste, adoption of novel food/feed sources and sustainable healthy diets would enable the current agricultural land area to meet the calorific and nutritional needs of future generations in the medium to long term
• 30%: Increase in cereal yields, as well as enhancing soil health and biodiversity in some parts of south-central Niger through farmer-managed natural regeneration of 5 million hectares with native trees and agroforestry systems
• Indigenous food systems, grounded in reciprocal worldviews and values regarding people and nature in balance and in the sustainable use of biodiversity are supplying sustainable and healthy foods while also contributing to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation and adaptation

Health

• Greater life expectancy and childhood survival are partly a result of increased production and access to food. Worsening outcomes from several communicable and non-communicable diseases are linked to biodiversity loss, unhealthy diets, lack of clean water, pollution and climate change among other causes
• Unsustainable farming systems contribute to biodiversity loss, excessive water use, pollution and climate change
• 20: Years of average life expectancy difference between regions
• 10x: Extent to which child mortality rates are higher in least-developed-countries compared to high-income countries
• 11 million: Adult deaths in 2017 (and 255 million disability-adjusted life years among adults) accounted for by unhealthy diets
• 9 million: Premature deaths in 2019 (16% of all deaths) estimated to have been caused by increased air and water pollution
• 50%: Proportion of emerging and reemerging infectious disease events driven by changes in land use, agricultural practices and activities that encroach on natural habitats and lead to increased contact between wildlife, domestic animals and humans – highlighting the interconnections between ecosystem, animal and human health
• The One Health approach supports integrating food system and biodiversity management with local health services to reduce risks from zoonotic pathogen emergence and spillover at source, malnutrition and other risks such as to wildlife health, food production and ecosystems. For example, Brazil’s successful Unified Health System joins human health professionals, veterinarians and environmental health practitioners working together with farmers and policymakers to jointly design holistic practices aimed at addressing social and environmental determinants of health and contributing to preventing pathogen emergence and disease outbreaks for both people and animals

Climate Change

• Climate change affects biodiversity, water, food and health through changes in average climatic conditions and the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events
• Climate change impacts terrestrial food production with consequences for human health and well-being including exacerbating food insecurity for vulnerable populations 
• Intensifying climate change will stress water resources and undermine agricultural productivity and food productivity in food production systems, cause increased mortality from heat waves and expand the epidemic belt for vector-borne diseases towards higher latitudes and altitudes
• Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, flooding, droughts and wildfires result in direct health impacts and increased dispersal of pathogens and pollutants (e.g., untreated wastewater, fertilizers, pesticides, sediments and air pollutants) 
• Under current trends, climate change leads to irreversible loss of marine biodiversity, such as coral reefs, and negative effects on coastal fisheries; both provide diets that prevent malnutrition, stunted child growth and other conditions
• Exposure to risks from climate change is projected to double between the 1.5°C and 2°C global warming levels and double again between a 2°C and 3°C world, across multiple sectors 
• 21-37%: Proportion of total greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the global food system
• 58%: Proportion of known human infectious diseases likely to worsen due to climate change
• 12,000-19,000: Heat-related child deaths in Africa between 2011 and 2020 to which climate change directly contributed
• 62,000: Heat-related deaths in Europe in 2022
• 1,500: Heat-related deaths in the United States in 2023
• 12,000: Disasters caused in the last 50 years by extreme weather-, climate and water-related events, leading to 2 million human deaths (90% in low- and lower-middle-income countries) and $4.3 trillion in total costs
• >50%: Proportion of carbon sequestration in the ocean attributable to coastal ecosystems
• >$500 billion: Minimum additional annual costs for delivering adaptation and mitigation to meet climate change goals for each year of additional delay
• Restoration contributes to climate change adaptation and socio-ecological resilience and can also contribute to climate change mitigation when it targets carbon storage in forests, peatlands, seagrass beds, salt marshes and marine and coastal ecosystems that contribute to carbon sequestration

IPBES Partner Comments

“Biodiversity loss, water scarcity, food security, human health, and climate change are not isolated issues. They are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. As they are intricately linked when one falters, the others follow. 

Despite these challenges being interconnected, our responses are far too often siloed, fixing one problem while creating another. 

The IPBES Nexus Assessment is the first comprehensive global assessment that looks at the interlinkages between these crises and identifies solutions. 

As governments continue work toward achieving commitments made in the Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Paris Agreement, this report comes at a critical moment to support countries achieve our global goals.”

• Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

“Biodiversity is vital to the efforts to meet humanity’s growing need for food, feed, fibre and fuel, while protecting the planet for future generations. We need to produce more with less, through the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – leaving no one behind. 

The IPBES assessments help us to understand the interlinkages between biodiversity, food, and livelihoods, as well as the urgent need to address biodiversity loss with solutions that enhance sustainability and resilience. These assessments clearly highlight the essential role of agrifood system solutions in meeting the Paris Agreement, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – especially SDG 2 to end hunger. 

FAO’s mandate aligns closely with the 2050 vision for biodiversity, promoting sustainable agrifood systems that ensure food security – by ensuring food availability, food accessibility and food affordability – with safe, sufficient and nutritious food for all, while conserving biodiversity and addressing the impacts of the climate crisis. 

With decades of experience in technical and policy support and guided by its Strategy on Mainstreaming Biodiversity Across Agricultural Sectors, FAO is well-positioned to lead the transition towards more sustainable agrifood systems. By leveraging our expertise, resources, and global network, we can help implement the assessments’ recommendations, ensuring agrifood systems contribute positively to biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, and climate action. 

Together, we can build a future where agrifood systems support sustainability and resilience, benefiting both people and the planet. Let us seize this opportunity to create a lasting impact.”

• QU Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

“Our ecological and planetary systems are deeply interconnected with all life on Earth, including humanity. Yet, decisions to address threats to biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate, are too often made in isolation, leading to misalignment, unplanned trade-offs, or unintended consequences at best — and negative outcomes at worst.   

By illuminating the intersections between environmental, social, and economic crises, the IPBES Nexus Assessment exposes both the limitations of isolated action — and the opportunities and acceleration possible from better aligning our global efforts. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) welcomes the insights of this assessment as we work with the United Nations (UN) family and our many partners to drive systemic, rather than linear shifts. This is essential to enabling the scale and urgency of action needed to protect and restore our planet’s irreplaceable ecosystems and biodiversity.”

• Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

“The environmental and social crises our planet is facing are interconnected and cannot be addressed in isolation. It is therefore essential to fully understand the interlinkages that exist between biodiversity, water and food systems, health and well-being, climate disruption and global energy systems. 

As an institutional partner of IPBES, UNESCO is proud to have supported this new assessment report, which demonstrates that we can – and must – move beyond a siloed approach. We must design holistic strategies to manage environmental and social challenges while accounting for trade-offs and enhancing mutual benefits in our global system. 

The report underscores the need for diverse knowledge systems, values and governance approaches to effectively tackle today’s interconnected global challenges. UNESCO takes pride in having supported the work on indigenous and local knowledge in this assessment, which illustrates the importance of these knowledge systems in conceptualizing, understanding and managing the complex relationships between people and nature. 

By recognizing and integrating diverse perspectives, the assessment report will be invaluable for policymakers and decision makers at all levels. UNESCO stands ready to support efforts towards holistic approaches to governance and action.” 

• Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

“One of the most challenging aspects of policymaking is to navigate complexity while avoiding unintended negative consequences. Actions to address global challenges affecting biodiversity, water, food, health and the climate system are often taken without sufficient regard to the interlinkages between them. Such actions inevitably result in shortcomings, if not adverse impacts on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people. 

By shedding light on the interactions, trade-offs and opportunities inherent to addressing these intertwined challenges, the IPBES Nexus Report lays a strong foundation for evidence-based decisions that enhance biodiversity conservation and restoration, while also supporting food and water security, public health and climate resilience.

The IPBES Nexus Assessment Report makes an invaluable contribution to efforts by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in achieving the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) by 2030. 

I thank and congratulate the IPBES experts and members for the tremendous amount of work, expertise and innovation that went into the preparation of the Nexus Report. I look forward to seeing this asset being widely used by Parties to the CBD, Stakeholders and Partners supporting the implementation of the KMGBF.”

• Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

2) Transformative Change Assessment Report news release

Planet in Peril: IPBES Report Reveals Options to Achieve Urgently Needed Transformative Change to Halt Biodiversity Collapse

Focuses on the Underlying Causes of the Biodiversity Crisis & Options for a Just and Sustainable World

Acting Immediately Could Generate $10 Trillion in Business Opportunity Value and Support 395 Million Jobs by 2030

Issued by the IPBES Secretariat on 18 December 2024

Windhoek, Namibia. Deep, fundamental shifts in how people view and interact with the natural world are urgently needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and safeguard life on Earth, warns a landmark new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

The IPBES Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity – also known as the Transformative Change Report – builds on the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report, which found that the only way to achieve global development goals is through transformative change, and on the 2022 IPBES Values Assessment Report.

Prepared over three years by more than 100 leading experts from 42 countries from all regions of the world, the report explains what transformative change is, how it occurs, and how to accelerate it for a just and sustainable world.

“Transformative change for a just and sustainable world is urgent because there is a closing window of opportunity to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and to prevent triggering the potentially irreversible decline and the projected collapse of key ecosystem functions,” said Prof. Karen O’Brien (Norway/USA), co-chair of the assessment with Prof. Arun Agrawal (India & USA) and Prof. Lucas Garibaldi (Argentina). “Under current trends, there is a serious risk of crossing several irreversible biophysical tipping points including die-off of low altitude coral reefs, die back of the Amazon rainforest, and loss of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. Transformative change is also necessary because most previous and current approaches to conservation, which aim to reform rather than transform systems, have failed to halt or reverse the decline of nature around the world, which has serious repercussions for the global economy and human well-being.”

The cost of delaying actions to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and nature’s decline around the world by even a decade is estimated to be double that of acting now. Acting immediately can also unlock massive business and innovation opportunities through sustainable economic approaches, such as nature-positive economy, ecological economy and Mother-Earth centric economy. Recent estimates are that more than $10 trillion in business opportunity value could be generated and 395 million jobs could be supported globally by 2030.

Approved on Monday in Windhoek, Namibia by the IPBES Plenary, composed of the 147 Governments that are members of IPBES, the report defines transformative change as fundamental system-wide shifts in views – ways of thinking, knowing and seeing; structures – ways of organizing, regulating and governing; and practices – ways of doing, behaving and relating. Current dominant configurations of views, structures and practices perpetuate and reinforce the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and nature’s decline. Transforming them is central to delivering on the global commitments for a just and sustainable world.

“Promoting and accelerating transformative change is essential to meeting the 23 action-oriented targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030 and four goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030 and for achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, which describes a world where all life can thrive,” said Prof. Agrawal. “Transformative change is rarely the outcome of a single event, driver, or actor. It is better understood as changes that each of us can create, and multiple cascading shifts that trigger and reinforce one another, often in unexpected ways.”

The underlying causes of biodiversity loss identified by the report are the disconnection of people from nature and domination over nature and other people; the inequitable concentration of power and wealth; and the prioritization of short-term individual and material gains.

“As complex and challenging as it is to address these underlying causes of biodiversity loss, it is possible,” said Prof. Garibaldi. “History has shown us that societies can transform at immense scale – as they did during the Industrial Revolution. While that era wrought terrible environmental and human costs, it stands as proof that fundamental, system-wide change is achievable, although it occurred over a much longer period of time than is needed for current transformative change for a just and sustainable world. To meet our shared global development goals today means we need to embark on a new transformation – one that urgently conserves and restores our planet’s biodiversity rather than depleting it, while enabling everyone to prosper.”

The authors created and analyzed a database of hundreds of separate case studies of initiatives around the world with transformative potential. Their analysis shows that positive outcomes for diverse economic and environmental indicators can happen in a decade or less. The analysis also demonstrates that initiatives addressing greater numbers of indirect drivers of biodiversity loss and nature’s decline, and those in which diverse actors work together, lead to more positive outcomes for societies, economies and nature.

Principles and Obstacles

The report identifies four principles to guide deliberate transformative change: equity and justice; pluralism and inclusion; respectful and reciprocal human-nature relationships; and adaptive learning and action.

Speaking about the obstacles that prevent transformative change and reinforce the status quo, Prof. O’Brien said: “The impacts of actions and resources devoted to blocking transformative change, for example through lobbying by vested interest groups or corruption, currently overshadow those devoted to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity”.

The report also identifies five overarching challenges to transformative change: relations of domination over nature and people, especially those that emerged and were propagated in colonial eras and that persist over time; economic and political inequalities; inadequate policies and unfit institutions; unsustainable consumption and production patterns including individual habits and practices; as well as limited access to clean technologies and uncoordinated knowledge and innovation systems.

“The underlying causes of biodiversity loss and nature’s decline also create inequalities and injustices,” said Prof. Agrawal. “Those who have benefited most from the economic activities associated with damage to nature – in particular, wealthy actors – have more opportunities and resources to create change. Doing so while involving others in balanced decision-making processes can unleash agency as well as resources to create change.”

5 Strategies

Embracing insights and evidence from diverse knowledge systems, disciplines and approaches, the Transformative Change Report highlights five key strategies and associated actions that have complementary and synergistic effects, and which countries and people can pursue to advance deliberate transformative change for global sustainability:

1. Conserve, restore and regenerate places of value to people and nature that exemplify biocultural diversity: This includes a focus on places of biocultural diversity – where place- based actions, such as restoration activities, can also support cultural values, sustainable production and biodiversity. An example is the Community Forestry Programme in Nepal – integrating decentralized forest policy into local community needs, views and practices to restore and manage degraded forests. 
2. Drive systematic change and mainstreaming biodiversity in the sectors most responsible for nature’s decline: The agriculture and livestock, fisheries, forestry, infrastructure and urban development, mining and fossil fuel sectors contribute heavily to the worst outcomes for Transformative approaches such as multifunctional and regenerative land use can promote a variety of benefits for nature and people. “Studies have suggested that increasing biodiversity, protecting natural habitats and reducing external inputs in agricultural landscapes can enhance crop productivity, for instance by enhancing pollinator abundance and diversity,” said Prof. Garibaldi. 
3. Transform economic systems for nature and equity: Global public explicit subsidies to sectors driving nature’s decline ranged from $1.4 trillion to $3.3 trillion per year in 2022 and total public funding for environmentally harmful subsidies has increased by 55% since 2021. It is estimated that between $722 billion and $967 billion per year is needed to sustainably manage biodiversity and maintain ecosystem integrity Currently, $135 billion per year is spent on biodiversity conservation, leaving a biodiversity funding gap of $598-824 billion per year. Some of the actions that could be taken to advance the necessary transformations include: internalizing environmental costs and using true cost accounting, reforming subsidies in sectors that contribute to biodiversity loss and nature’s decline, reconsidering global debts, greater positive private sector engagement, establishing sustainability as a core tax principle, and redefining goals, metrics and indicators to acknowledge social (including cultural), economic and environmental dimensions, as well as the different values of nature. 
4. Transform governance systems to be inclusive, accountable and adaptive: Integrating biodiversity into sector policies and decision-making, engaging a greater diversity of actors and holding actors accountable are important elements in transforming governance systems for more just and sustainable outcomes for people and nature. An example of this kind of approach to governance is the ecosystems-based spatial management of the Galapagos Marine Reserve, which supports sustainable fisheries and tourism – vital for more than 30,000 residents and 300,000 annual visitors.

5. Shift views and values to recognize human-nature interconnectedness: Many human behaviours are habitual, learned within social and environmental conditions – and they can be changed. Enhancing the visibility of desired behaviours and supporting these with targeted policy measures can catalyze and sustain new social norms and behaviours. Cultivating feelings of nature-connectedness is also important, as is transformative learning and education, experiential nature-based activities and knowledge co-creation by combining different knowledge systems including Indigenous and local knowledge.

Visions of Transformative Change

Visions are fundamentally important to inspire transformative change. The authors assessed more than 850 separate visions of a sustainable world for nature and people. They find that visions of a better future for humans and nature are abundant, but most do not change the status quo.

“The diversity of societies, economies, cultures and peoples means that no single theory or approach provides a complete understanding of transformative change or how to achieve it,” said Prof. O’Brien. “Many knowledge systems, including Indigenous and local knowledge, provide complementary insights into how it occurs and how to promote, accelerate and navigate the change needed for a just and sustainable world.”

Indigenous and local knowledge systems offer philosophies, ethics of care and reciprocity, values, and practices to shape approaches to transformative change. These include the use of ancestral, embodied and experiential knowledge and non-human ways of knowing and making sense of the world in decision making for conservation. Visions where Indigenous Peoples and local communities play a meaningful role are found to have a greater likelihood of advancing transformative change. Visions for living in harmony with nature are more likely to succeed when they emerge from inclusive, rights-based approaches and stakeholder processes and when they incorporate collaboration for change across sectors.

Roles for All

A key message from the report is that there is a role for every person and organization to create transformative change at multiple levels, but that coalitions of actors and actor groups are more effective in pursuing transformative change than change pursued individually. Such coalitions include individual citizens, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, funders, faith-based organizations, governments at all levels, the private sector, financial institutions and the scientific community.

Governments across all levels are found to be key in engaging diverse coalitions of State and non- State actors. Governments are powerful enablers of transformative change when they foster policy coherence, enact and enforce stronger regulations to benefit nature and nature’s contributions to people in policies and plans across different sectors, deploy innovative economic and fiscal tools, phase out or reform environmentally harmful subsidies and promote international cooperation. The report finds that current government actions for transformative change are undermined by a mismatch between the scale of biodiversity challenges and the jurisdiction of separate, siloed institutions or the length of time for policy implementation compared to the length of time between elections that can bring new political authorities to power that oppose such policies.

Civil society plays important and effective roles in bringing about transformative change by mobilizing citizens, creating initiatives that propagate change and by holding governments and the private sector accountable for harmful environmental practices. The report finds that a way to support transformative change is by supporting and amplifying civil society initiatives for a just and sustainable world and protecting environmental defenders from violence and violations of rights.

“We thank the co-chairs and all the authors of the Transformative Change Report for making it clear that there is path to a more just and sustainable world,” said Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of IPBES. “Acting decisively now to shift views, structures and practices to address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss will be tremendously challenging but is urgent, necessary and possible.”

* * * * *

By the Numbers – Key Statistics from the Report

• >50%: Proportion of annual global GDP generated by economic activities moderately to highly dependent on nature, amounting to $58 trillion
• $13 trillion: Annual value of industries highly dependent on nature, accounting for 15% of global GDP
• $31 trillion: Annual value of industries moderately dependent on nature, representing 37% of global GDP
• $10 trillion: Estimated business opportunity value that could be generated while supporting 395 million jobs globally by 2030
• 55%: Increase in public funding of environmentally harmful subsidies since 2021
• $10.7 trillion: Estimated annual external costs of sectors most responsible for nature’s decline
• <15%: Global proportion of forests certified as sustainably managed
• 46,955: Documented environmental threats contested by civil society analyzed by authors
• ~40%: Proportion of protected areas and intact ecosystems across 87 countries managed by or with tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities
• 2%: Proportion of global wealth held by top 1% of global population in 2021, with 1.85% owned by the bottom 50%

Media coverage highlights:

A Biodiversity Solution Might Be Hiding in Plain Sight — The New York Times (United States, 184,546,007)

Major Report Joins Dots Between World’s Nature Challenges — BBC (United Kingdom, 162,425,058)

‘Fundamental Change’ to Nature-Harming Industries Needed, UN Report Warns — UK Press Association via MSN.com (United States, 127,645,172)

IPBES Warns of a Decline in Biodiversity of Between 2% and 6% Per Decade in the Last 50 Years — EFE via Infobae (Argentina, 95,236,694)

Biodiversity Hit to Economic Estimated at Up to $25tn a Year in Landmark Report — Financial Times (United Kingdom, 16,362,693)

Scientists Call for Urgent Transformative Change to Save Biodiversity on Earth — Infobae (Argentina, 95,236,694)

The Nature Crisis Puts More Than 50% of the World’s GDP at Risk — ABC (Spain, 14,634,135)

Activities That Damage the Natural World Receive 35 Times More Resources Than Their Protection — La Vanguardia (Spain, 22,228,512)

Unified Approach Could Improve Nature, Climate and Health All at Once — New Scientist via MSN.com (United States, 127,645,172)

Full coverage summary: here

News releases in full:

Nexus: here

Transformative Change: here

Key role in 60% of global plant and animal extinctions; Annual costs now >$423 Billion – have quadrupled every decade since 1970; Report provides evidence, tools and options to help governments achieve ambitious new global goal on invasive alien species

The severe global threat posed by invasive alien species is underappreciated, underestimated, and often unacknowledged. According to a major new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), more than 37,000 alien species have been introduced by many human activities to regions and biomes around the world. This conservative estimate is now rising at unprecedented rates. More than 3,500 of these are harmful invasive alien species – seriously threatening nature, nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life. Too often ignored until it is too late, invasive alien species are a significant challenge to people in all regions and in every country.

Approved Sept 2 in Bonn, Germany, by representatives of the 143 member States of IPBES,  the Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control finds that alongside dramatic changes to biodiversity and ecosystems, the global economic cost of invasive alien species exceeded $423 billion annually in 2019, with costs having at least quadrupled every decade since 1970.

In 2019, the IPBES Global Assessment Report found that invasive alien species are one of the five most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss – alongside changes in land- and sea-use, direct exploitation of species, climate change and pollution. On the basis of this finding, Governments tasked IPBES to provide the best available evidence and policy options to deal with the challenges of biological invasions. The resulting report was produced by 86 experts from 49 countries, working for more than four and a half years. It draws on more than 13,000 references, including very significant contributions from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, making it the most comprehensive assessment ever carried out of invasive alien species around the world.

“Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity and can cause irreversible damage to nature, including local and global species extinctions, and also threaten human wellbeing,” said Professor Helen Roy (United Kingdom), co-chair of the Assessment with Prof. Anibal Pauchard (Chile) and Prof. Peter Stoett (Canada). 

The authors of the report emphasize that not all alien species become invasive – invasive alien species are the subset of alien species that are known to have become established and spread, which cause negative impacts on nature and often also on people. About 6% of alien plants; 22% of alien invertebrates; 14% of alien vertebrates; and 11% of alien microbes are known to be invasive, posing major risks to nature and to people. People with the greatest direct dependence on nature, such as Indigenous Peoples and local communities, are found to be at even greater risk. More than 2,300 invasive alien species are found on lands under the stewardship of Indigenous Peoples – threatening their quality of life and even cultural identities.        

While many alien species were historically introduced on purpose for their perceived benefits to people, the IPBES report finds that the negative impacts of those that do become invasive are enormous for nature and people. “Invasive alien species have been a major factor in 60% and the only driver in 16% of global animal and plant extinctions that we have recorded, and at least 218 invasive alien species have been responsible for more than 1,200 local extinctions . In fact, 85% of the impacts of biological invasions on native species are negative,” said Prof. Pauchard. Examples of such impacts include the ways that North American beavers (Castor canadensis) and Pacific Oysters (Magallana gigas) change ecosystems by transforming habitats – often with severe consequences for native species.    

Nearly 80% of the documented impacts of invasive alien species on nature’s contributions to people are also negative – especially through damage to food supplies – such as the impact of the European shore crab (Carcinus maenas) on commercial shellfish beds in New England and the damage caused by the Caribbean false mussel (Mytilopsis sallei) to locally important fishery resources in India.  

Similarly, 85% of documented impacts negatively affect people’s quality of life – for instance through health impacts, including diseases such as malaria, Zika and West Nile Fever, spread by invasive alien mosquito species like Aedes albopictusand Aedes aegyptii. Invasive alien species also damage livelihoods, for example in Lake Victoria where fisheries have declined due to the depletion of tilapia, as a result of the spread of water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), which is the world’s most widespread terrestrial invasive alien species. Lantana (Lantana camara), a flowering shrub, and the black rat (Rattus rattus) are the second and third most widespread globally, with far-reaching impacts on people and nature. 

“It would be an extremely costly mistake to regard biological invasions only as someone else’s problem,” said Pauchard. “Although the specific species that inflict damages vary from place to place, these are risks and challenges with global roots but very local impacts, facing people in every country, from all backgrounds and in every community – even Antarctica is being affected.” 

The report shows that 34% of the impacts of biological invasions were reported from the Americas, 31% from Europe and Central Asia, 25% from Asia and the Pacific and about 7% from Africa. Most negative impacts are reported on land (about 75%) – especially in forests, woodlands and cultivated areas – with considerably fewer reported in freshwater (14%) and marine (10%) habitats . Invasive alien species are most damaging on islands, with numbers of alien plants now exceeding the number of native plants on more than 25% of all islands.

“The future threat from invasive alien species is a major concern,” said Prof. Roy. “37% of the 37,000 alien species known today have been reported since 1970 – largely caused by rising levels of global trade and human travel. Under ‘business-as-usual’ conditions, we project that total numbers of alien species will continue to increase in this way.”

“But business-as-usual is actually unlikely,” continues Roy. “With so many major drivers of change predicted to worsen, it is expected that the increase of invasive alien species and their negative impacts, are likely to be significantly greater. The accelerating global economy, intensified and expanded land- and sea-use change, as well as demographic changes are likely to lead to increases in invasive alien species worldwide. Even without the introduction of new alien species, already established alien species will continue to expand their ranges and spread to new countries and regions. Climate change will make the situation even worse.” The report underscores that interactions between invasive alien species and other drivers of change will be likely to amplify their impacts – for example invasive alien plants can interact with climate change, often resulting in more intense and frequent fires, such as some of the devastating wildfires experienced recently around the world, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The IPBES experts point to the generally insufficient measures in place to tackle these challenges. While 80% of countries have targets related to managing invasive alien species in their national biodiversity plans, only 17% have national laws or regulations specifically addressing these issues. This also increases the risk of invasive alien species for neighbouring States. The report finds that 45% of all countries do not invest in the management of biological invasions.    

On a more positive note, the report highlights that future biological invasions, invasive alien species, and their impacts, can be prevented through effective management and more integrated approaches. “The good news is that, for almost every context and situation, there are management tools, governance options and targeted actions that really work,” said Prof. Pauchard. “Prevention is absolutely the best, most cost-effective option – but eradication, containment and control are also effective in specific contexts. Ecosystem restoration can also improve the results of management actions and increase the resistance of ecosystems to future invasive alien species . Indeed, managing invasive alien species can help to mitigate the negative effects of other drivers of change.” 

Prevention measures – such as border biosecurity and strictly enforced import controls – are identified by the report as having worked in many instances, such as the successes achieved in Australasia in reducing the spread of the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys). Preparedness, early detection and rapid response are shown to be effective at reducing rates of alien species establishment, and to be especially critical for marine and connected water systems . The PlantwisePlus programme, assisting smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America is spotlighted by the report as a good example of the importance of general surveillance strategies to detect new alien species.

Eradication has been successful and cost-effective for some invasive alien species, especially when their populations are small and slow-spreading, in isolated ecosystems such as islands. Some examples of this are in French Polynesia where the black rat (Rattus rattus) and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) have been successfully eradicated. The report indicates that eradication of alien plants is more challenging due to the length of time that seeds may lie dormant in soil. The authors add that successful eradication programmes depend on, amongst other elements, the support and engagement of stakeholders and Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

When eradication is not possible for different reasons, invasive alien species can often be contained and controlled – especially in land-based and closed water systems, as well as in aquaculture – an example being the containment of the invasive alien Asian tunicate (Styela clava) in aqua-cultured blue mussels in Canada. Successful containment can be physical, chemical or biological – although the appropriateness and effectiveness of each option is dependent on local context. The use of biological control for invasive alien plants and invertebrates, such as introducing a rust fungus (Puccinia spegazzinii) to control bitter vine (Mikania micrantha) in the Asia-Pacific region, has been effective – with success in more than 60% of known cases.

“One of the most important messages from the report is that ambitious progress in tackling invasive alien species is achievable,” said Prof. Stoett. “What is needed is a context-specific integrated approach, across and within countries and the various sectors involved in providing biosecurity, including trade and transportation; human and plant health; economic development and more. This will have far-reaching benefits for nature and people.” Options explored in the report include considering coherent policies and codes of conduct across sectors and scales; commitment and resourcing; public awareness and engagement, such as citizen science campaigns like those promoting ‘check, clean and dry’; open and interoperable information systems; filling knowledge gaps (the authors identify more than 40 areas where research is needed); as well as inclusive and fair governance.

“The immediate urgency of invasive alien species, with extensive and growing harm to nature and people, makes this report so valuable and timely,” said Dr. Anne Larigauderie, the Executive Secretary of IPBES. “The Governments of the world agreed, in December last year, as part of the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to reduce the introduction and establishment of priority invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030. This is a vital, but also very ambitious commitment. The IPBES Invasive Alien Species Report provides the evidence, tools and options to help make this commitment more achievable.”

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Species

• >37,000: alien species established worldwide
• 200: new alien species recorded every year
• >3,500: invasive alien species recorded globally, including 1,061 plants (6% of all alien plant species), 1,852 invertebrates (22%), 461 vertebrates (14%) and 141 microbes (11%)
• 37%: proportion of known alien species reported since 1970
• 36%: anticipated increase in alien species by 2050 compared to 2005, under a “business-as-usual” scenario (assumes past trends in drivers of change continue)
• >35%: proportion of alien freshwater fish in the Mediterranean basin that have arisen from aquaculture

Impacts

• 34%: proportion of impacts reported in the Americas (31% Europe and Central Asia; 25% Asia Pacific; 7% Africa
• 75%: impacts reported in the terrestrial realm (mostly in temperate and boreal forests and woodlands and cultivated areas)
• 14%: proportion of impacts reported in freshwater ecosystems 
• 10%: proportion of impacts reported in the marine realm
• 60%: proportion of recorded global extinctions to which invasive alien species have contributed
• 16%: proportion of recorded global extinctions in which invasive alien species have been the sole driver
• 1,215: local extinctions of native species caused by 218 invasive alien species (32.4% were invertebrates, 50.9% vertebrates, 15.4% plants, 1.2% microbes)
• 27%: invasive alien species impacts on native species through ecosystem properties changes (24% through interspecific competition; 18% through predation; 12% through herbivory)
• 90%: global extinctions on islands attributed mainly to invasive alien species
• >$423 billion: estimated annual economic cost of biological invasions, 2019
• 92%: proportion of economic costs of biological invasions attributed to invasive alien species damaging nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life (with the remaining 8% of costs related to biological invasion management)
• >2,300: invasive alien species documented on lands managed, used and/or owned by Indigenous Peoples
• 400%: rise in the economic cost of biological invasions in every decade since 1970

Policy and management:

• 80% (156 out of 196): countries with targets in national biodiversity strategies and action plans for managing biological invasions
• >200%: increase in the last decade in the number of countries with national invasive alien species checklists, including databases (196 countries in 2022)
• 83%: countries without specific national legislation or regulations on invasive alien species
• 88%: success rate of eradication programmes (1,550) conducted on 998 islands
• >60%: success rates of biological control programs for invasive alien plants and invertebrates

IPBES Partner Comments

Humanity has been moving species around the world for centuries. This practice has brought some positives. However, when imported species run rampant and unbalance local ecosystems, indigenous biodiversity suffers. As a result, invasive species have become one of the five horsemen of the biodiversity apocalypse that is riding down harder and faster upon the world.

While the other four horsemen – changing land- and sea-use, over exploitation, climate change and pollution – are relatively well understood, knowledge gaps remain around invasive species. The IPBES Invasive Alien Species Report is a welcome effort to close these gaps. By providing critical information on trends in invasive species and policy tools to address them, this report can provide a springboard to concrete action on invasive species.

I ask all decision-makers to use this report’s recommendations as a basis to act on this growing threat to biodiversity and human well-being – and make a real contribution to achieving the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Invasive alien species pose a substantial threat to livelihoods and food security around the world. They can, for example, manifest as destructive crop or forest pests or displace species targeted by fisheries. They are an important driver of biodiversity loss and hence a threat to the various ecosystem services that support agricultural production and sustainable livelihoods. 

The information contained in this report will contribute greatly to efforts to combat the spread of invasive alien species and to meeting Target 6 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It will be especially valuable for all of us who work to integrate the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into the world’s agrifood systems to enhance their productivity and resilience.

QU Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Invasive alien species — plants, animals or microorganisms that are introduced intentionally or unintentionally into areas where they are not native — remain one of the most striking symptoms of the adverse effect of human activities on our natural world. They not only contribute to wildlife species extinctions, but also pose a rapidly growing risk to progress on the Global Goals — affecting entire ecosystems, economies and food security to human health, wellbeing, and livelihoods. 

As anthropogenic factors such as climate change provide the perfect petri dish for alien species to multiply and spread, our decisions and actions must be rooted in a comprehensive understanding of this threat and its future implications. 

Addressing this need, this timely analysis by IPBES combines the latest science, data, and new thinking to guide countries, communities, and the United Nations family to prevent, mitigate, and manage invasive alien species, a pivotal step towards advancing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets. That includes leveraging invaluable local knowledge and outlining a range of practical solutions. 

This new understanding will allow our global community to take new measures to protect both people and planet from the unwanted and severe consequences of invasive alien species.

Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Invasive alien species are one of the five main direct drivers of biodiversity loss globally and the threats they pose to species, to ecosystems and to human well-being are rapidly increasing. 

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, in its Target 6, aims to tackle the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030. This is an ambitious target, especially when we consider the increasing levels of global trade and travel. 

The IPBES Assessment will provide the best available scientific knowledge to help countries and stakeholders understand and address this growing threat. It will identify tools and policy measures for identifying and regulating pathways of introduction and for eliminating or controlling invasive species that have already been established. Critically, the assessment will take into account different value systems and help to focus actions on priority species, pathways and sites.

Congratulations to IPBES for this critical work. I look forward to seeing its active use by Parties and stakeholders. I believe it will be a critical resource to facilitate the urgent actions necessary to achieve Target 6 and work towards living in harmony with nature.  

David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary, The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

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IPBES has now released the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Invasive Alien Species Report. The SPM presents the key messages and policy options, as approved by the IPBES Plenary. To access the SPM, photos, ‘B-roll’ and other media resources go to: www.bit.ly/IASMedia The full six-chapter Report (including all data) will be published later this year.

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About IPBES:

Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 140 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit www.ipbes.net

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Coverage highlights

New York Times, United States
Invasive Species Are Costing the Global Economy Billions, Study Finds
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/climate/invasive-species-cost-ipbes.html

Washington Post, United States
Scientists warn invasive pests are taking a staggering toll on society Invasive pests are wreaking havoc across the planet, destroying crops, disseminating pathogens, depleting fish people rely on for food
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/scientists-warn-invasive-pests-are-taking-a-staggering-toll-on-society/ar-AA1gdunT

Agence France Presse, France
World losing high-stakes fight against invasive species
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/world-losing-high-stakes-fight-against-invasive-species/ar-AA1gdL3l

The Hill, United States
Invasive species are costing society more than $423 billion a year: report
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/invasive-species-are-costing-society-more-than-423-billion-a-year-report/ar-AA1geTLO

Business Insider, United States
From non-native bluegrass in Antarctica to beautiful spotted bugs in the middle of NYC, here are 5 invasive species that are as stunning as they are threatening to humanity
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/from-non-native-bluegrass-in-antarctica-to-beautiful-spotted-bugs-in-the-middle-of-nyc-here-are-5-invasive-species-that-are-as-stunning-as-they-are-threatening-to-humanity/ar-AA1gf4Il

CNN, United States
Invasive species cost the world $423 billion every year and are causing environmental chaos, UN reports finds
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/invasive-species-cost-the-world-423-billion-every-year-and-are-causing-environmental-chaos-un-reports-finds/ar-AA1gfHg8

Newsweek, United States
Invasive Raccoons Wreaking Havoc on Europe’s Wildlife
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/invasive-raccoons-wreaking-havoc-on-europe-s-wildlife/ar-AA1ghqiM

Daily Mail, United Kingdom
Revealed: The invasive species wreaking havoc on Britain – including Asian hornets, giant hogweed, and killer shrimp
http://www.nla-eclipsweb.com/service/redirector/article/96343761.html

Reuters, United Kingdom
Invasive species costs global economy $423 bln per year – UN report
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-12478751/Invasive-species-costs-global-economy-423-bln-year–UN-report.html

UK Press Association, United Kingdom
Invasive alien species `travelling around the world at unprecedented rates
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-12478757/Invasive-alien-species-travelling-world-unprecedented-rates.html

Australian Associated Press
Alien invaders driving destruction of nature worldwide
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-12478767/Alien-invaders-driving-destruction-nature-worldwide.html

Full coverage summary click here

News release in full, click here

By 2030: Protect 30% of Earth’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, inland waters; Reduce by $500 billion annual harmful government subsidies; Cut food waste in half

Nearing the conclusion of a sometimes fractious two-week meeting, nations of the world today agreed on a historic package of measures deemed critical to addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems.

Convened under UN auspices, chaired by China, and hosted by Canada, the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), including four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030.

Among the global targets for 2030:
 

• Effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services. The GBF prioritizes ecologically-representative, well-connected and equitably-governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories and practices. Currently 17% and 10% of the world’s terrestrial and marine areas respectively are under protection.
• Have restoration completed or underway on at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland waters, and coastal and marine ecosystems
• Reduce to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance,including ecosystems of high ecological integrity
• Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation
• Reduce by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals
• Progressively phase out or reform by 2030 subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity’s conservation and sustainable use
• Mobilize by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private
• Raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries,in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030
• Prevent the introduction of priority invasive alien species, and reduce by at least half the introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species, and eradicate or control invasive alien species on islands and other priority sites
• Require large and transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity through their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios

Warns the GBF: “Without such action, there will be a further acceleration in the global rate of species extinction, which is already at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years.”

The framework’s four overarching global goals
 

GOAL A

• The integrity, connectivity and resilience of all ecosystems are maintained,enhanced, or restored, substantially increasing the area of natural ecosystems by 2050;
• Human induced extinction of known threatened species is halted, and, by2050, extinction rate and risk of all species are reduced tenfold, and the abundance of native wild species is increased to healthy and resilient levels;
• The genetic diversity within populations of wild and domesticated species,is maintained, safeguarding their adaptive potential.

GOAL B

• Biodiversity is sustainably used and managed and nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, are valued, maintained and enhanced, with those currently in decline being restored, supporting the achievement of sustainable development, for the benefit of present and future generations by 2050.

GOAL C

• The monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilization of genetic resources, and digital sequence information on genetic resources, and of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, as applicable, are shared fairly and equitably, including, as appropriate with indigenous peoples and local communities, and substantially increased by 2050, while ensuring traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources is appropriately protected, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in accordance with internationally agreed access and benefit-sharing instruments.

GOAL D

• Adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, and access to and transfer of technology to fully implement the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework are secured and equitably accessible to all Parties, especially developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition,progressively closing the biodiversity finance gap of $700 billion per year,and aligning financial flows with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

Held at Montreal’s Palais des Congrès Dec. 7-19, representatives of 188 governments on site (95% of all 196 Parties to the UN CBD, as well as two non-Parties – the United States and The Vatican), finalized and approved measures to arrest the ongoing loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity and set humanity in the direction of a sustainable relationship with nature, with clear indicators to measure progress.

In addition to the GBF, the meeting approved a series of related agreements on its implementation, including planning, monitoring, reporting and review;resource mobilization; helping nations to build their capacity to meet the obligations; and digital sequence information on genetic resources.

For example, The Global Environment Facility was requested to establish, as soon as possible, a Special Trust Fund to support the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (“GBF Fund”). The fund would complement existing support and scale up financing to ensure the timely implementation of the GBF with adequate, predictable and timely flow of funds.

Digital sequence information on genetic resources – a dominant topic at COP15 –
has many commercial and non-commercial applications, including pharmaceutical product development, improved crop breeding, taxonomy, and the monitoring of invasive species.

COP15 delegates agreed to establish within the GBF a multilateral fund for the equitable sharing of benefits between providers and users of DSI, to be finalized at COP16 in Türkiye in 2024.

The agreement also obligates countries to monitor and report every five years orless on a large set of “headline” and other indicators related to progress against the GBF’s goals and targets.

Headline indicators include the percent of land and seas effective conserved, the number of companies disclosing their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity,and many others.

The CBD will combine national information submitted by late February 2026 and late June 2029 into global trend and progress reports.

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Emphasized throughout the approved documents are the needs to foster the full and effective contributions of women, persons of diverse gender identities, youth,indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society organizations, the private and financial sectors, and stakeholders from all other sectors.

Also emphasized: the need for a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach” to implementing the GBF.
 

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: 23 targets
 

TARGET 1

Ensure that all areas are under participatory integrated biodiversity inclusive spatial planning and/or effective management processes addressing land and sea use change, to bring the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, close to zero by 2030, while respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 2

Ensure that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity.

TARGET 3

Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water,and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable,and integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities including over their traditional territories.

TARGET 4

Ensure urgent management actions, to halt human induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species, in particular threatened species, to significantly reduce extinction risk, as well as to maintain and restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species to maintain their adaptive potential, including through in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable management practices, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.

TARGET 5

Ensure that the use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, safe and legal, preventing overexploitation, minimizing impacts on non-target species and ecosystems, and reducing the risk of pathogen spill-over, applying the ecosystem approach, while respecting and protecting customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 6

Eliminate, minimize, reduce and or mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services by identifying and managing pathways of the introduction of alien species, preventing the introduction and establishment of priority invasive alien species, reducing the rates of introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species by at least 50 percent, by 2030, eradicating or controlling invasive alien species especially in priority sites, such as islands .

TARGET 7

Reduce pollution risks and the negative impact of pollution from all sources, by2030, to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, considering cumulative effects, including: reducing excess nutrients lost to the environment by at least half including through more efficient nutrient cycling and use; reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half including through integrated pest management, based on science, taking into account food security and livelihoods; and also preventing,reducing, and working towards eliminating plastic pollution.

TARGET 8

Minimize the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity and increase its resilience through mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction actions, including through nature-based solution and/or ecosystem-based approaches, while minimizing negative and fostering positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity.

TARGET 9

Ensure that the management and use of wild species are sustainable, thereby providing social, economic and environmental benefits for people, especially those in vulnerable situations and those most dependent on biodiversity,including through sustainable biodiversity-based activities, products and services that enhance biodiversity, and protecting and encouraging customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 10

Ensure that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the sustainable use of biodiversity,including through a substantial increase of the application of biodiversity friendly practices, such as sustainable intensification, agroecological and other innovative approaches contributing to the resilience and long-term efficiency and productivity of these production systems and to food security, conserving and restoring biodiversity and maintaining nature’s contributions to people,including ecosystem functions and services.

TARGET 11

Restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate,soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, through nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature.

TARGET 12

Significantly increase the area and quality and connectivity of, access to, and benefits from green and blue spaces in urban and densely populated areas sustainably, by mainstreaming the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and ensure biodiversity-inclusive urban planning, enhancing native biodiversity, ecological connectivity and integrity, and improving human health and well-being and connection to nature and contributing to inclusive and sustainable urbanization and the provision of ecosystem functions and services.

TARGET 13

Take effective legal, policy, administrative and capacity-building measures at all levels, as appropriate, to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources and from digital sequence information on genetic resources, as well as traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, and facilitating appropriate access to genetic resources,and by 2030 facilitating a significant increase of the benefits shared, in accordance with applicable international access and benefit-sharing instruments.

TARGET 14

Ensure the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies,regulations, planning and development processes, poverty eradication strategies,strategic environmental assessments, environmental impact assessments and, as appropriate, national accounting, within and across all levels of government and across all sectors, in particular those with significant impacts on biodiversity,progressively aligning all relevant public and private activities, fiscal and financial flows with the goals and targets of this framework.

TARGET 15

Take legal, administrative or policy measures to encourage and enable business,and in particular to ensure that large and transnational companies and financial institutions:

(a) Regularly monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks,dependencies and impacts on biodiversity including with requirements for all large as well as transnational companies and financial institutions along their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios;

(b) Provide information needed to consumers to promote sustainable consumption patterns;

(c) Report on compliance with access and benefit-sharing regulations and measures, as applicable;

in order to progressively reduce negative impacts on biodiversity, increase positive impacts, reduce biodiversity-related risks to business and financial institutions, and promote actions to ensure sustainable patterns of production.

TARGET 16

Ensure that people are encouraged and enabled to make sustainable consumption choices including by establishing supportive policy, legislative or regulatory frameworks, improving education and access to relevant and accurate information and alternatives, and by 2030, reduce the global footprint of consumption in an equitable manner, halve global food waste, significantly educe overconsumption and substantially reduce waste generation, in order for all people to live well in harmony with Mother Earth.

TARGET 17

Establish, strengthen capacity for, and implement in all countries in biosafety measures as set out in Article 8(g) of the Convention on Biological Diversity and measures for the handling of biotechnology and distribution of its benefits as set out in Article 19 of the Convention.

TARGET 18

Identify by 2025, and eliminate, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies harmful for biodiversity, in a proportionate, just, fair, effective and equitable way, while substantially and progressively reducing them by at least500 billion United States dollars per year by 2030, starting with the most harmful incentives, and scale up positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

TARGET 19

Substantially and progressively increase the level of financial resources from all sources, in an effective, timely and easily accessible manner, including domestic,international, public and private resources, in accordance with Article 20 of the Convention, to implement national biodiversity strategies and action plans, by2030 mobilizing at least 200 billion United States dollars per year, including by:

(a) Increasing total biodiversity related international financial resources from developed countries, including official development assistance, and from countries that voluntarily assume obligations of developed country Parties, to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030;

(b) Significantly increasing domestic resource mobilization, facilitated by the preparation and implementation of national biodiversity finance plans or similar instruments according to national needs, priorities and circumstances

(c) Leveraging private finance, promoting blended finance, implementing strategies for raising new and additional resources, and encouraging the private sector to invest in biodiversity, including through impact funds and other instruments;

(d) Stimulating innovative schemes such as payment for ecosystem services,green bonds, biodiversity offsets and credits, benefit-sharing mechanisms, with environmental and social safeguards

(e) Optimizing co-benefits and synergies of finance targeting the biodiversity and climate crises,

(f) Enhancing the role of collective actions, including by indigenous peoples and local communities, Mother Earth centric actions and non-market-based approaches including community based natural resource management and civil society cooperation and solidarity aimed at the conservation of biodiversity

(g) Enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of resource provision and use;

TARGET 20

Strengthen capacity-building and development, access to and transfer of technology, and promote development of and access to innovation and technical and scientific cooperation, including through South- South, North-South and triangular cooperation, to meet the needs for effective implementation,particularly in developing countries, fostering joint technology development and joint scientific research programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and strengthening scientific research and monitoring capacities,commensurate with the ambition of the goals and targets of the framework.

TARGET 21

Ensure that the best available data, information and knowledge, are accessible to decision makers, practitioners and the public to guide effective and equitable governance, integrated and participatory management of biodiversity, and to strengthen communication, awareness-raising, education, monitoring, research and knowledge management and, also in this context, traditional knowledge,innovations, practices and technologies of indigenous peoples and local communities should only be accessed with their free, prior and informedconsent20, in accordance with national legislation.

TARGET 22

Ensure the full, equitable, inclusive, effective and gender-responsive representation and participation in decision-making, and access to justice and information related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities,respecting their cultures and their rights over lands, territories, resources, and traditional knowledge, as well as by women and girls, children and youth, and persons with disabilities and ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders.

TARGET 23

Ensure gender equality in the implementation of the framework through a gender-responsive approach where all women and girls have equal opportunity and capacity to contribute to the three objectives of the Convention, including by recognizing their equal rights and access to land and natural resources and their full, equitable, meaningful and informed participation and leadership at all levels of action, engagement, policy and decision-making related to biodiversity.

Coverage highlights

New York Times, “Countries Adopt a Sweeping Agreement to Protect Nature” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/climate/biodiversity-cop15-montreal-30×30.html

Many others: As of Dec. 21:

9,377 different news sites in 181 countries published one or more articles in 72 languages
77,767 online news articles have been capturedTotal potential impressions: 430 billion, of which 297 billion (69%) were in China 
# articles / potential impressions by country:

United States 17,596 (potential impressions: 41 billion)

China: 13,665 (297 billion)

Canada: 12,566 (9 billion)

UK: 4,156 (10.4 billion)

Germany: 3,010 (6.7 billion)

France: 2,723 (9 billion)

India: 2,656 (7.9 billion)

Japan: 1,997 (16 billion)

Brazil: 1,123 (3 billion)

Korea: 1,095 (3.7 billion)

Sweden: 1,056 (560 million)
Spain: 982 (2.3 billion)

Switzerland: 632 (1.2 billion)

Türkiye: 576 (1.2 billion)

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

More than 50 methods and approaches exist to make visible the diverse values of nature

The way nature is valued in political and economic decisions is both a key driver of the global biodiversity crisis and a vital opportunity to address it, according to a four-year methodological assessment by 82 top scientists and experts from every region of the world.  

Approved by representatives of the 139 member States of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature finds that there is a dominant global focus on short-term profits and economic growth, often excluding the consideration of multiple values of nature in policy decisions. 

Economic and political decisions have predominantly prioritised certain values of nature, particularly market-based instrumental values of nature, such as those associated with food produced intensively. Although often privileged in policymaking, these market values do not adequately reflect how changes in nature affect people’s quality of life. Furthermore, policymaking overlooks the many non-market values associated with nature’s contributions to people, such as climate regulation and cultural identity. 

“With more than 50 valuation methods and approaches, there is no shortage of ways and tools to make visible the values of nature,” said Prof. Unai Pascual (Spain/Switzerland), who co-chaired the Assessment with Prof. Patricia Balvanera (Mexico), Prof. Mike Christie (UK) and Dr. Brigitte Baptiste (Colombia).

“Only 2% of the more than 1,000 studies reviewed consult stakeholders on valuation findings and only 1% of the studies involved stakeholders in every step of the process of valuing nature. What is in short supply is the use of valuation methods to tackle power asymmetries among stakeholders, and to transparently embed the diverse values of nature into policymaking.”  

Deeply cross-disciplinary and, based on a large review conducted by experts in social science, economics and the humanities, the Values Assessment draws on more than 13,000 references – including scientific papers and information sources from indigenous and local knowledge. It also builds directly on the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment, which identified the role of economic growth as a key driver of nature loss, with 1 million species of plants and animals now at risk of extinction.

To help policymakers better understand the very different ways in which people conceive and value nature, the Report provides a novel and comprehensive typology of nature’s values. The typology highlights how different worldviews and knowledge systems influence the ways people interact with and value nature. 

In order to make this typology useful for decision-making, the authors present four general perspectives. These are living from, with, in and as nature. 

Living from nature emphasizes nature’s capacity to provide resources for sustaining livelihoods, needs and wants of people, such as food and material goods. Living with nature has a focus on life ‘other than human’ such as the intrinsic right of fish in a river to thrive independently of human needs. Living in nature refers to the importance of nature as the setting for people’s sense of place and identity. Living as nature sees the natural world as a physical, mental and spiritual part of oneself.

The Report finds that the number of studies that value nature has increased on average by more than 10% per year over the last four decades. The most prominent focus of recent (2010-2020) valuation studies has been on improving the condition of nature (65% of valuation studies reviewed) and on improving people’s quality of life (31%), with just 4% focused on improving issues around social justice. 74% of valuation studies focused on instrumental values, with 20% focused on intrinsic values, and just 6% focused on relational values.

“The Values Assessment provides decision-makers with concrete tools and methods to better understand the values that individuals and communities hold about nature,” said Prof. Balvanera. “For example, it highlights five iterative steps to design valuation to fit the needs of different decision-making contexts. The report also provides guidelines on how to enhance the quality of valuation by taking into account relevance, robustness and resource requirements of different valuation methods.”

“Different types of values can be measured using different valuation methods and indicators. For example, a development project can yield economic benefits and jobs, for which instrumental values of nature can assessed, but it can also lead to loss of species, associated with intrinsic values of nature, and the destruction of heritage sites important for cultural identity, thus affecting relational values of nature. The report provides guidance for combining these very diverse values.”

“Valuation is an explicit and intentional process,” said Prof. Christie. “The type and quality of information that valuation studies can produce largely depends on how, why and by whom valuation is designed and applied. This influences whose and which values of nature would be recognized in decisions, and how fairly the benefits and burdens of these decisions would be distributed.”

“Recognizing and respecting the worldviews, values and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities allows policies to be more inclusive, which also translates into better outcomes for people and nature”, said Dr. Baptiste. “Also, recognizing the role of women in the stewardship of nature and overcoming power asymmetries frequently related to gender status, can advance the inclusion of the diversity of values in decisions about nature.”

The Report finds that there are a number of deeply held values that can be aligned with sustainability, emphasizing principles like unity, responsibility, stewardship and justice, both towards other people and towards nature.

“Shifting decision-making towards the multiple values of nature is a really important part of the system-wide transformative change needed to address the current global biodiversity crisis,” said Dr. Balvanera. “This entails redefining ‘development’ and ‘good quality of life’ and recognising the multiple ways people relate to each other and to the natural world.”

The authors identify four values-centred ‘leverage points’ that can help create the conditions for the transformative change necessary for more sustainable and just futures: 

Recognizing the diverse values of natureEmbedding valuation into decision-makingReforming policies and regulations to internalize nature’s values Shifting underlying societal norms and goals to align with global sustainability and justice objectives 

“Our analysis shows that various pathways can contribute to achieve just and sustainable futures. The report pays specific attention to future pathways related to ‘green economy’, ‘degrowth’, ‘Earth stewardship’, and ‘nature protection’. Although each pathway is underpinned by different values, they share principles aligned with sustainability,” added Prof. Pascual. “Pathways arising from diverse worldviews and knowledge systems, for instance those associated with living well and other philosophies of good living, can also lead towards sustainability.”

Among the other tools offered by the Report to strengthen the consideration of greater diversity of values of nature in decision-making are: an exploration of entry points for valuation across all parts of the policy cycle; six interrelated values-centred guidelines to promote sustainability pathways; an evaluation of the potential of different environmental policy instruments to support transformative change towards more sustainable and just futures by representing diverse values, and a detailed illustration of the required capacities of decision makers to foster the consideration and embedding of the diverse values of nature into decisions.

“Biodiversity is being lost and nature’s contributions to people are being degraded faster now that at any other point in human history,” said Ana María Hernández Salgar, Chair of IPBES. “This is largely because our current approach to political and economic decisions does not sufficiently account for the diversity of nature’s values. The IPBES Values Assessment is being released at an extremely important time – just in advance of the expected agreement later this year by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity on a new global biodiversity framework for the next decade. The information, analysis and tools offered by the Values Assessment make an invaluable contribution to that process, to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and to shifting all decisions towards better values-centred outcomes for people and the rest of nature.”

By the Numbers – Key Statistics and Facts from the Report

* 10%: increase in the average annual number of valuation studies undertaken over the last four decades
* 65%: valuation applications reviewed (2010-2020) in which the most prominent focus has been on improving the status of nature, followed by improving people’s quality of life (31%), and improving social justice (4%)
* 74%: valuation applications among those reviewed in which ‘instrumental values’ (e.g., nature as an economic asset) were elicited (as opposed to relational and intrinsic values)
* 50%: valuation applications among those reviewed in which value indicators of biophysical measures predominate, followed by monetary and socio-cultural indicators
* 72%: reported valuations performed at the sub-national rather than national or global scales (with very few studies dealing with cross-regional or cross-national protected areas, or with explicit reference to indigenous peoples and local communities’ territories)
* 25%: ecological contexts of reviewed valuations with emphasis given to the value of nature’s contributions to people that come from forests vs. cultivated areas (16%) and inland water bodies (11%)
* +/-48,000: studies out of 79,000 (61%) that provided explicit geo-referenced information 
* 56%: reviewed valuations that did not attempt to bring different values together, but instead used distinct biophysical, monetary and socio-cultural indicators
* +/-50%: valuation studies reviewed that bring different values together apply methods allowing values to be directly compared; the other half compare bundles of values, or use relative weights based on participants’ or valuation experts’ rankings or deliberation
* <1%: valuation studies reviewed that keep values separate (i.e., treat them in parallel in a deliberative process)
* 44%: valuation studies reviewed in which some stakeholder involvement was reported
* 1%: valuation studies reviewed that included stakeholder consultation and their involvement in every step of the valuation process
* 2%: valuation studies reviewed that reported consultations with stakeholders on findings
* 0.6%: valuation studies reviewed that explicitly account for power issues in the valuation process
* 5%: valuation studies reviewed that considered equity when aggregating impacts on individuals and social groups with diverse socio-economic conditions in valuation
* 53%: of 460 future scenarios reviewed explicitly articulate values, 42% mention values but do not assess them explicitly and 53% perform some kind of valuation without reflecting on underpinning values.

IPBES Partner Comments
“The IPBES Assessment Report on the Values and Valuation of Nature is timely. This ‘Values Assessment’ will help us better understand the different ways that people interact with and benefit from nature, and also help us grasp the way we can measure these.

“Under the Convention, this nuanced understanding of values will provide a strong basis for better policy design at the national level, including mainstreaming, national planning, and economic policy, within the broader context of national policies for sustainable development. This year at COP 15, governments are expected to adopt a Global Biodiversity Framework that will allow the world to bend the curve on biodiversity loss and set us on a path of living in harmony with nature. Implementing the goals and targets in this Global Biodiversity Framework, which will complement 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, absolutely is underpinned by knowledge of the different types of values of nature as demonstrated in the IPBES Values Assessment.”
“I applaud the work of all IPBES experts for this and look forward to its active use by all Parties and Stakeholders to the Convention.”

– Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

* * * * *

“Nature is what sustains us all. It gives us food, medicine, raw materials, oxygen, climate regulation and so much more. Nature, in all its diversity, is the greatest asset that humanity could ever ask for. Yet its true value is often left out of decision making. Nature’s life support system has become an externality that doesn’t even make it onto the ledger sheet. And so, it is lost in the pursuit of short-term profit. 

“If we do not value nature and account for it in decision-making, it will continue to be lost. And that can only be bad news for humanity. Valuing nature is central to the success of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework which is currently being negotiated by UN Member States. 

“It is for this reason that the Values Assessment report by IPBES, whose secretariat is hosted by UNEP, is so crucial. This report makes it clear that we must place science-based valuation of nature at the heart of economic decision making. 

“The UN has adopted the System of Environmental and Economic Accounting as the standard for countries’ national accounts. We must ensure that it is implemented around the world – to finally value nature for its incredible contribution and so protect it.”

– Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

* * * * *

“The diversity of cultural expressions is an extraordinary opportunity to understand how biodiversity is perceived across the globe, learn from each other and to imagine solutions. This IPBES assessment report on values is an important step towards this goal, to understand and change the way we relate to nature. Making peace with nature is a matter of behavioral change, ethics and values. Reconciliation is already happening in UNESCO sites across the globe, and these new relationships can be shared with the world. For this, we believe in the power of social and human sciences and education.”

– Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

* * * * *

“Resilient and productive ecosystems are the foundation of sustainable agrifood systems. A better understanding of nature’s multiple values and benefits is essential for proper decisions affecting the use and conservation of our natural resources. Policymakers need to weigh how their decisions will affect different components of biodiversity and different segments of society across the world and over time. This IPBES assessment report offers a wide range of options, perspectives and approaches to help integrate nature’s diverse values into policy. “

“The IPBES report findings will bolster efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, to address the impacts of the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to open potential holistic pathways for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all, leaving no one behind.”

– QU Dongyu, Director-General, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

* * * * *

“The IPBES, the world’s premier mechanism for evidence-based policy dialogue on the relationship between people and nature, is launching its Assessment Report on the Values and Valuation of Nature. The report highlights a major gap between science and policy, with less than 5% of valuation studies finding their way into policy. As the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework is finalized, the Values Assessment is helping to close this longstanding gap by supporting decision-makers to choose and design appropriate valuation methods for nature. It also provides a much-needed roadmap for countries to operationalize their biodiversity commitments and the nature-dependent Sustainable Development Goals.”

– Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 

* * * * *

Media coverage highlights:

The Associated Press, United States, via the Washington Post
What value on nature? Countries now have 1st guidelines
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/what-value-on-nature-countries-now-have-1st-guidelines/2022/07/11/7a61f7a6-0118-11ed-8beb-2b4e481b1500_story.html

Reuters, United Kingdom
Market value alone is selling nature short, governments told
(via Nasdaq), United States
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/market-value-alone-is-selling-nature-short-governments-told

Agence France Presse
«La nature nous permet de vivre» et l’ONU ne veut pas qu’on l’oublie
“Nature allows us to live” and the UN does not want us to forget it
https://www.lematin.ch/story/la-nature-nous-permet-de-vivre-et-lonu-ne-veut-pas-quon-loublie-352314656907

Deutsche Presse Agentur, Germany
Wissenschaftler kritisieren verengten Blick auf Natur
Scientists criticize the narrow view of nature
https://www.ka-news.de/nachrichten/schlagzeilen/wissenschaft/wissenschaftler-kritisieren-verengten-blick-auf-natur-art-2817828

BBC, United Kingdom
Nature’s true value overlooked in decision making – IPBES
https://news.yahoo.com/natures-true-value-overlooked-decision-120336390.html

BBC World Service Radio (Newshour), starts at the 45 minute mark, roughly 8 minutes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172yfc1pls86wd

The Guardian, United Kingdom
Humans need to value nature as well as profits to survive, UN report finds
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/11/humans-value-nature-survive-un-report-age-of-extinction

Le Monde, France
La course au profit et à la croissance alimente l’effondrement de la biodiversité, avertit l’IPBES
The race for profit and growth is fueling the collapse of biodiversity, warns IPBES
https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/07/11/la-course-au-profit-et-a-la-croissance-alimente-l-effondrement-de-la-biodiversite-avertit-l-ipbes_6134337_3244.html

France info
Crise de la biodiversité : des scientifiques appellent à arrêter de considérer la nature comme une simple marchandise
Biodiversity crisis: Scientists call for people to stop seeing nature as a mere commodity
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/environnement/biodiversite/crise-de-la-biodiversite-des-scientifiques-appellent-a-arreter-de-considerer-la-nature-comme-une-simple-marchandise_5249884.html

Der Spiegel, Germany (19,020,122)
Wissenschaftler kritisieren Profitgier zu Lasten der Natur

Scientists criticize greed for profit at the expense of nature https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/weltbiodiversitaetsrat-ipbes-wissenschaftler-kritisieren-gewinnstreben-beim-naturschutz-a-5c24ab2d-b0c5-40e5-bff4-0d2428763e44

Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
Preisschilder für die Natur
Price tags for nature
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/ipbes-naturschutz-werte-1.5619023

La Presse, Canada (4,798,561)
La nature n’est pas qu’une source de profit
Nature is not just a source of profit https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/environnement/2022-07-12/rapport-de-l-onu-sur-la-biodiversite/la-nature-n-est-pas-qu-une-source-de-profit.php

Full media coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

1 in 5 people rely on wild species for income & food; >10,000 wild species harvested for human food; 2.4 billion (1 in 3) depend on fuel wood for cooking

Billions of people in developed and developing nations benefit daily from the use of wild species for food, energy, materials, medicine, recreation, inspiration and many other vital contributions to human well-being. The accelerating global biodiversity crisis, with a million species of plants and animals facing extinction, threatens these contributions to people. 

A new report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) offers insights, analysis and tools to establish more sustainable use of wild species of plants, animals, fungi and algae around the world. Sustainable use is when biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are maintained while contributing to human well-being.  

The IPBES Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species is the result of four years of work by 85 leading experts from the natural and social sciences, and holders of indigenous and local knowledge, as well as 200 contributing authors, drawing on more than 6,200 sources. The summary of the Report was approved this week by representatives of the 139 member States of IPBES in Bonn, Germany. 

“With about 50,000 wild species used through different practices, including more than 10,000 wild species harvested directly for human food, rural people in developing countries are most at risk from unsustainable use, with lack of complementary alternatives often forcing them to further exploit wild species already at risk,” said Dr. Jean-Marc Fromentin (France), who co-chaired the Assessment with Dr. Marla R. Emery (USA/Norway) and Prof. John Donaldson (South Africa). 

“70% of the world’s poor are directly dependent on wild species. One in five people rely on wild plants, algae and fungi for their food and income; 2.4 billion rely on fuel wood for cooking; and about 90% of the 120 million people working in capture fisheries are supported by small-scale fishing,” said Dr. Emery. “But the regular use of wild species is extremely important not only in the Global South. From the fish that we eat, to medicines, cosmetics, decoration and recreation, wild species’ use is much more prevalent than most people realise.”

The use of wild species is an important source of income for millions of people worldwide. Wild tree species account for two thirds of global industrial roundwood; trade in wild plants, algae and fungi is a billion-dollar industry; and even non-extractive uses of wild species are big business. Tourism, based on observing wild species, is one of the main reasons that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, protected areas globally received 8 billion visitors and generated US$600 billion every year.

The Report identifies five broad categories of ‘practices’ in the use of wild species: fishing; gathering; logging; terrestrial animal harvesting (including hunting); and non-extractive practices. For each practice, it then examines specific ‘uses’ such as for food and feed; materials; medicine, energy; recreation; ceremony; learning and decoration – providing a detailed analysis of the trends in each, over the past 20 years. In most cases, use of wild species has increased, but sustainability of use has varied, such as in gathering for medicine and logging for materials and energy. 

Speaking specifically about fishing as an example, Dr. Fromentin said: “Recent global estimates confirm that about 34% of marine wild fish stocks are overfished and 66% are fished within biologically sustainable levels – with significant local and contextual variations. Countries with robust fisheries management have seen stocks increasing in abundance. 

The Atlantic bluefin tuna population, for instance, has been rebuilt and is now fished within sustainable levels. For countries and regions with low intensity fisheries management measures, however, the status of stocks is often poorly known, but generally believed to be below the abundance that would maximise sustainable food production. Many small-scale fisheries are unsustainable or only partially sustainable, especially in Africa for both inland and marine fisheries, and in Asia, Latin America and Europe for coastal fisheries.”  

“Overexploitation is one of the main threats to the survival of many land-based and aquatic species in the wild”, said Prof. Donaldson. “Addressing the causes of unsustainable use and, wherever possible reversing these trends, will result in better outcomes for wild species and the people who depend on them.” 

The survival of an estimated 12% of wild tree species is threatened by unsustainable logging; unsustainable gathering is one of the main threats for several plant groups, notably cacti, cycads and orchids, and unsustainable hunting has been identified as a threat for 1,341 wild mammal species – with declines in large-bodied species that have low natural rates of increase also linked to hunting pressure. 

The Report identifies drivers such as land- and seascape changes; climate change; pollution and invasive alien species that impact the abundance and distribution of wild species, and can increase stress and challenges among the human communities that use them. Global trade in wild species has expanded substantially in volume, value and trade networks over the past four decades. 

While trade in wild species provides important income for exporting countries, offers higher incomes for harvesters, and can diversify sources of supply to allow pressure to be redirected from species being unsustainably used, it also decouples the consumption of wild species from their places of origin. The Report finds that without effective regulation across supply chains – from local to global – global trade of wild species generally increases pressures on wild species, leading to unsustainable use and sometimes to wild population collapses (e.g., shark fin trade).

Illegal use and illegal trade in wild species are also addressed in the Report – as this occurs across all of the practices and often leads to unsustainable use. The authors find that illegal trade in wild species represents the third largest class of all illegal trade – with estimated annual values of up to US$199 billion. Timber and fish make up the largest volumes and value of illegal trade in wild species. 

As part of its analysis, the Report explores policies and tools that have been used in a variety of contexts with regard to the sustainable use of wild species. Seven key elements are presented, that could be used as levers of change to promote sustainable use of wild species if they are scaled-up across practices, regions and sectors:

• Policy options that are inclusive and participatory
• Policy options that recognise and support multiple forms of knowledge
• Policy instruments & tools that ensure fair & equitable distribution of costs & benefits
• Context-specific policies
• Monitoring of wild species and practices 
• Policy instruments that are aligned at international, national, regional and local levels; maintain coherence & consistency with international obligations & take into account customary rules and norms
• Robust institutions, including customary institutions

The use of wild species by indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as their extensive knowledge, practices and beliefs about such uses, are also explored in the Report. Indigenous peoples manage fishing, gathering, terrestrial animal harvesting and other uses of wild species on more than 38 million km² of land, equivalent to about 40% of terrestrial conserved areas, in 87 countries. The Report finds that policies supporting secure tenure rights and equitable access to land, fisheries and forests, as well as poverty alleviation, create enabling conditions for sustainable use of wild species.  

“Indigenous stewardship of biodiversity is often embedded in local knowledge, practices and spirituality,” said Dr. Emery. “The sustainable use of wild species is central to the identity and existence of many indigenous peoples and local communities. These practices and cultures are diverse, but there are common values including the obligation to engage nature with respect, reciprocate for what is taken, avoid waste, manage harvests and ensure the fair and equitable distribution of benefits from wild species for community well-being.”

“Globally, deforestation is generally lower on indigenous territories, in particular where there is security of land tenure, continuity of knowledge and languages, and alternative livelihoods. Bringing scientists and indigenous peoples together to learn from each other will strengthen the sustainable use of wild species. This is especially important because most national frameworks and international agreements largely continue to emphasize ecological and some social considerations, including economic and governance issues – while cultural contexts receive little attention.”

The Report concludes by examining a range of possible future scenarios for the use of wild species, confirming that climate change, increasing demand and technological advances -making many extractive practices more efficient – are likely to present significant challenges to sustainable use in the future.

Actions are identified for each practice that would help to address these challenges. In fishing, this would include fixing current inefficiencies; reducing illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; suppressing harmful financial subsidies; supporting small-scale fisheries; adapting to changes in oceanic productivity due to climate change; and proactively creating effective transboundary institutions.

In logging this would entail management and certification of forests for multiple uses; technological innovations to reduce waste in manufacturing of wood products; and economic and political initiatives that recognize the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including land tenure. 

In most future scenarios that enable the sustainable use of wild species, the authors find that transformative changes share common characteristics – such as integration of plural value systems; equitable distribution of costs and benefits; changes in social values, cultural norms and preferences; and effective institutions and governance systems. Ambitious goals are found to be necessary but not sufficient to drive transformative change. The Report also notes that the world is dynamic, and that sustainable use of wild species requires constant negotiation and adaptive management. It also requires a common vision of sustainable use and transformative change in human-nature relationships.

Speaking about the importance of the Report, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of IPBES said: “This Assessment was specifically requested by, among others, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and will inform decisions about trade in wild species at the 19th World Wildlife Conference in Panama in November.”

“It also has immediate relevance to the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity to forge a new global biodiversity framework for the next decade – not least because of the findings about the untapped potential of the sustainable use of wild species to contribute even more to many of the Sustainable Development Goals, including those on poverty, hunger, good health and well-being, education, gender equity, clean water and sanitation, affordable energy, as well as industry and innovation.”

“We thank and congratulate all the authors and experts for their tireless work – especially throughout the COVID pandemic. The sustainable use of wild species is vital for all people, in all communities – and this Report will help decision-makers around the world choose policies and actions that better support people and nature.” 

* * * * *

By the Numbers – Key Statistics and Facts from the Report

• +/- 50,000: wild species used for food, energy, medicine, material and other purposes through fishing, gathering, logging and terrestrial animal harvesting globally
• At least 34%: species that are sustainably used – based on assessment of 10,098 species from 10 taxonomic groups on the IUCN Red List
• +/-7,500: species of wild fish and aquatic invertebrates directly used by people all over the world; 31,100 species of wild plants, of which 7,400 are trees; 1,500 species of fungi; 7,400 species of wild trees; 1,700 species of wild land-based invertebrates; and 7,500 species of wild amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
• >10,000: wild species harvested for human food, making sustainable use of wild species critical for food security & improving nutrition in rural and urban areas worldwide
• +/-70%: of the world’s poor directly dependant on wild species and on businesses fostered by them
• 8 billion: annual visitors to protected areas worldwide prior to COVID-19 pandemic, generated US$600 billion per year, with the highest levels of tourist visitors in species-rich countries
• 38 million: km² of land across 87 countries on which indigenous peoples manage fishing, gathering, terrestrial animal harvesting and other uses of wild species (coincides with +/-40% of terrestrial conserved areas, including many with high biodiversity value)
• 15: number of the Sustainable Development Goals to which sustainable use of wild species has unacknowledged potential to contribute to achievement of the targets
• >90%: of the 120 million people engaged in capture fisheries globally that are supported by small-scale fishing – about half of them are women
• 34%: marine wild fish stocks that are overfished (with 66% fished within biologically sustainable levels, but this global picture displays strong heterogeneities)
• 90 million: tons of wild fish caught annually in recent decades, of which about two thirds go to human food (and the rest as feed for aquaculture and livestock)
• 99%: species of sharks and rays officially declared taken incidentally as by-catch, but valuable and often retained for food, causing steep declines since the 1970s in shark species, especially in tropical and subtropical coastal shelf waters
• 449: species of sharks and rays classified as threatened (37.5% of 1,199 species recently assessed), mostly due to unsustainable fishing
• 2.4 billion: people (approximately one third of humanity) that rely on fuel wood for cooking); 880 million log firewood or produce charcoal, particularly in developing countries
• 50%: of all wood consumed globally is logged for energy, 90% in Africa. Use of fuel wood is declining in most regions but increasing in sub-Saharan Africa
• 1.1 billion: people without access to electricity or alternative energy sources and who rely on fuel wood logging
• >25%: world’s forests subject to industrial logging
• Two thirds: global industrial roundwood provided by wild tree species
• +/-20%: world’s tropical forests (3.9 million km²) currently subject to selective logging
• 12%: wild tree species threatened by unsustainable logging
• 15%: proportion of global forests managed as community resources by indigenous peoples and local communities, often with a strong focus on multiple use management
• +/-29%: of about 10,000 near-threatened and threatened species from 10 taxonomic groups, for which unsustainable harvest contributes to elevated risk of extinction
• +/-1.4 million: km² of Africa managed for recreational hunting (but unique biodiversity values and ecological and social durability have mostly not been evaluated)
• 55%-75%: wild meat biomass derived annually from hunting of large mammals
• 1,341: wild mammal species threatened by unsustainable hunting, including 669 species already assessed as threatened
• 40: years during which global trade of wild species has increased substantially
• 4%-68%: individuals and households in Europe & North America that participate in gathering (highest in Eastern Europe), often irrespective of economic status
• >50%: trade in fish, birds, amphibians and plants derived from farmed sources as a result of a shift from use of wild species
• 38,700: species listed by 2021 under CITES and subjected to regulation by Parties (with trade in the majority of listed species deemed by Parties to be sustainable)
• 101: countries with legislation and institutions to fully implement CITES; with a further 43 that can partially implement it
• US$69-199 billion: annual value of illegal trade in wild species (especially timber and fish), representing the world’s third largest class of illegal trade

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IPBES Partner Comments

“Fifty years ago, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was created to address concerns that international trade in wildlife was becoming unsustainable and needed regulation. It was recognized that wild animals and plants are an irreplaceable part of Earth’s natural systems, and they must be conserved. Fifty years later, sustainability is more important than ever.”

“In November, CITES will hold the 19th World Wildlife Conference in Panama. The Parties to the Convention will be making decisions that are crucial for species, and biodiversity, conservation. I’m sure they will see this Assessment Report as a considerable resource, helping to underpin their future work with the latest science from our foremost experts.”

“In 2030, two commitments fall due: CITES’ strategic vision for a world where all international trade in wild fauna and flora is legal, sustainable and traceable… and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Science must guide our actions if we are to meet those targets and IPBES is one of our leading lights.”

– Ivonne Higuero, Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 

* * * * *

“Today one million species are at risk of extinction. And the unsustainable, illegal and unregulated use of species is a large part of the problem. For example, the illegal wildlife trade is a 23-billion-dollar annual business that lines the deep pockets of a few unscrupulous individuals. These people get rich at the expense of nature and ecosystems.”

“This trade also robs countries, indigenous people and local communities of access to their own resources and safe livelihoods. This is because an important value of nature lies in its sustainable use for food, medicine, income generation and livelihoods for millions of people.” 

“It is critical to ensure sustainable use, and fair and equitable sharing of its benefits – particularly to the most vulnerable populations and the communities that are the stewards of nature. Sustainable use can provide a strong incentive for conservation and living in harmony with nature.”

“The Sustainable Use of Wild Species Assessment from IPBES, whose secretariat is hosted by UNEP, is a vital contribution to global efforts to ensure this happens.”

– Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

* * * * *

“The IPBES Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species is a stark reminder that human beings are interdependent with all living beings. Millions of people are living in harmony with nature in UNESCO designated sites worldwide, from Biosphere reserves to World heritage sites. This is a wealth of experience and solutions to reconcile and make peace with nature. It is not too late to act, and UNESCO is fully committed to mobilize the full force of education, science and culture to lead this global transformative change.”

– Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

* * * * *

“The sustainable use of wild species is important to the world’s agrifood systems. It is fundamental to the forestry and fisheries sectors, and it contributes directly to livelihoods, food security and nutrition, particularly in developing regions and indigenous people. Wild species provide a huge range of products, diversify diets, provide multiplies options for income generation, and are part of the cultural and social life of many communities.”

“We must ensure that the use of wild species is sustainable. Failure to do so will compromise the future of agrifood systems and jeopardize efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. It will also undermine the supply of essential ecosystem services, increase the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, drive inequity and conflict, and diminish our capacity to mitigate and adapt to threats of the climate crisis.”

“This report heightens our understanding of how wild species are used and how they can be sustainably managed to benefit the people and habitats that depend on them.”

– QU Dongyu, Director-General, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

* * * * *

“IPBES continues to strengthen the role of science in public decision-making on biodiversity and ecosystem services, ultimately helping to restore the delicate balance between people and our natural world. As part of these efforts, this new IPBES Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species, shows how billions of people depend on approximately 50,000 wild species for food, medicine, energy, and livelihoods. Crucially, it provides policymakers with a framework for sustainable management, one that includes data and analytics to track and trace wild species.”

“Leveraging insights from 420 of the world’s leading experts in this field, the assessment’s latest science, evidence and analysis will help countries to implement the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. It also aims to contribute to a chain reaction of bold action on protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing nature towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Doing so will help the world to break through to a greener, more inclusive, and more sustainable future for all.”

– Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

* * * * *

“The IPBES Assessment on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species is an important tool and source of knowledge for all members of the biodiversity community. In our world faced with biodiversity decline, including as a result of the overexploitation of wild species, we need to better understand the ways forward for sustainable use. The need to better ensure the sustainable harvesting, trade and use of wild species while ensuring benefits to nutrition, food security, medicines, and livelihoods for people especially for the most vulnerable from the sustainable use of wild species has been well recognized in the discussions around the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.”

“In examining the feasibility of and options for the sustainable use of wildlife on land, in freshwater and in the oceans, by people around the world, this report is in fact linked to the draft version of the Global Biodiversity Framework. We expect that this assessment can also be one of the tools to assist implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework, expected to begin after its adoption at COP 15.”

“Let me congratulate IPBES and its community of experts for this work. I look forward to its active use by all Parties and stakeholders to the Convention.

– Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Note to Editors:

IPBES has now released the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Sustainable Use of Wild Species report. The SPM presents the key messages and policy options, as approved by the IPBES Plenary. The full six-chapter Report (including all data) will be published later this year.

The French and Spanish versions of the news release are provided as a courtesy; some terminology may be changed in official translations yet to be completed. In the event of a discrepancy, the English version of the news release should be regarded as definitive.

Values of Biodiversity Assessment Report launch: Monday 11 July

A 2nd IPBES Assessment Report on how to effectively reflect the diverse values of nature in decision-making will also be launched from #IPBES9, Bonn, on Mon. 11 July at 14:00 CEST.

Four years in development by 82 leading experts from 47 countries, and drawing on more than 13,000 references, the purpose, scope, structure and other information about the report is described in a primer available at https://bit.ly/3yDS3s0.

If not yet accredited for advance access: https://ipbes.net/ipbes-9/media-accreditation/registration

About IPBES:

Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising 139 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit www.ipbes.net

Video introduction to IPBES: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiGio7YU-M

Additional videos: 

• IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019): https://youtu.be/7eYK5ibTOMA
• IPBES Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration (2018): www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCt7aai17Nk
• IPBES Regional Assessments of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2018):
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0HeepbWCc 
• IPBES Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production (2016): www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwkYbeiwK5A
• IPBES Assessment of Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity (2016):
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZfcDmtGa9I

Follow IPBES on Social Media: 

twitter.com/@ipbes 

linkedin.com/company/ipbes

youtube.com/ipbeschannel 

facebook.com/ipbes 

instagram.com/ipbes

* * * * *

Media coverage highlights

New York Times United States (449,900,000)Biodiversity Crisis Affects Billions Who Rely on Wild Species, Researchers Sayhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/climate/species-biodiversity-united-nations.html

Guardian, United Kingdom (259,600,000)1) Wild species support half of world’s population, report findshttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/08/overexploitation-wild-species-sustainability-un-report-aoe
2) (oped): We’ve overexploited the planet, now we need to change if we’re to survive https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/08/climate-crisis-biodiversity-decline-overexploited-planet-change-to-survive-aoe

BBC via Yahoo! News, United States (63,022,674)Unsustainable logging, fishing and hunting ‘driving extinction’https://news.yahoo.com/unsustainable-logging-fishing-hunting-driving-113326339.html

Daily Mail, United Kingdom (77,878,486)Billions of people rely on 50,000 wild species for ‘vital contributions to human well-being’ including food and medicine – and could be heavily impacted if they go extinct, report warnshttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10995599/Wild-species-relied-billions-risk-report-warns.html

Mainichi Shimbun (Japan’s largest daily, 77,540,234)野生種の乱獲 絶滅リスク３割で上昇 世界の科学者参加の組織が発表https://topics.smt.docomo.ne.jp/article/mainichi/nation/mainichi-20220708k0000m040498000c

Agence France Presse* FrenchStory 1 via Le Figaro, France (24,456,244)Des milliards de personnes à travers le monde dépendent des espèces sauvages, selon un rapport de l’ONUBillions of people around the world depend on wildlife, says UN reporthttps://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/des-milliards-de-personnes-a-travers-le-monde-dependent-des-especes-sauvages-selon-un-rapport-de-l-onu-20220708

Story 2 via Le Point, France (6,060,777)
Le trafic d’espèces sauvages rapporte entre 69 et 199 milliards de dollars par anWildlife trafficking brings in between $69 billion and $199 billion a year
https://www.lepoint.fr/environnement/le-trafic-d-especes-sauvages-rapporte-entre-69-et-199-milliards-de-dollars-par-an-08-07-2022-2482627_1927.php

* Story 1, different language versions* Spanish (via Infobae, Argentina, 49,486,035)Miles de millones de personas en todo el mundo dependen de las especies silvestres, según la ONUBillions of people around the world depend on wildlife, according to the UN https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2022/07/08/miles-de-millones-de-personas-en-todo-el-mundo-dependen-de-las-especies-silvestres-segun-la-onu/

* English, via Radio France International (RFI), France (6,804,657)Billions of people rely on wild species for food, fuel, income: UNhttps://www.rfi.fr/en/international-news/20220708-billions-of-people-rely-on-wild-species-for-food-fuel-income-un

* Portuguese, via Estado de Minas, Brazil (6,005,014)Bilhões de pessoas em todo o mundo dependem das espécies selvagens, afirma ONU Billions of people around the world depend on wild species, says UNhttps://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/internacional/2022/07/08/interna_internacional,1378819/bilhoes-de-pessoas-em-todo-o-mundo-dependem-das-especies-selvagens-afirma.shtml

CNET, United States (29,450,019)UN Experts Just Dropped a Huge Report on Protecting Wild Species. Here’s Why It Mattershttps://www.cnet.com/science/climate/un-experts-just-dropped-a-huge-report-on-protecting-wild-species-heres-why-it-matters/

Deutsche Welle, Germany (22,415,730)1) Wild species can help feed the worldhttps://www.dw.com/en/wild-species-can-help-feed-the-world/a-62408394
2) Biodiversität: Die Natur nachhaltig zu nutzen ist existenziellBiodiversity: Using nature sustainably is essential
https://www.dw.com/de/biodiversti%C3%A4t-wilde-arten-nachhaltig-nutzen-indigene-gemeinschaften-artensterben-ipbes-un-bericht/a-62404726

Le Monde, France (20,107,128)Alimentation, énergie, médecine… L’humanité dépend de 50 000 espèces sauvages pour sa survieFood, energy, medicine… Humanity depends on 50,000 wild species for its survivalhttps://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/07/08/alimentation-energie-medecine-l-humanite-depend-de-50-000-especes-sauvages-pour-sa-survie_6133984_3244.html

Ouest-France, France (19,037,865)Environnement. 50 000 espèces sauvages sont exploitées par l’homme… Pour encore combien de temps ?Environment. 50,000 wild species are exploited by humans… For how long?
https://www.ouest-france.fr/environnement/environnement-50-000-especes-sauvages-sont-exploitees-par-l-homme-jusqu-a-quand-le-pourra-t-il-dc0c97e0-fe93-11ec-bdc1-39b5e48ef435

Der Spiegel, Germany (19,020,122)70 Prozent der Armen sind von Wildtieren abhängig70 percent of the poor depend on wildlife
https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/weltbiodiversitaetsrat-bericht-70-prozent-der-armen-sind-abhaengig-von-wildtierarten-a-6b9edd5b-58f7-4550-8e1f-a3fa5afe3b1a

francetv info, France (17,995,933)Pêche, abattage d’arbres, chasse… Des experts internationaux de la biodiversité alertent sur l’exploitation non durable des espèces sauvagesFishing, felling trees, hunting… International biodiversity experts warn of the unsustainable exploitation of wild species
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/environnement/biodiversite/peche-abattage-d-arbres-chasse-des-experts-internationaux-de-la-biodiversite-alertent-sur-l-exploitation-non-durable-des-especes-sauvages_5239609.html

Deutsche Presse-Agentur newswire, via DIE WELT, Germany (15,099,250)
50.000 wilde Arten genutzt – Warnung vor Ausbeutung50,000 wild species exploited – warning against exploitationhttps://www.welt.de/newsticker/dpa_nt/infoline_nt/wissenschaft_nt/article239807497/50-000-wilde-Arten-genutzt-Warnung-vor-Ausbeutung.html

sueddeutsche, Germany (10,703,494)Wenn Arten sterben, droht Menschen HungerWhen species die, people face starvation
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/ipbes-artensterben-1.5617524

Zeit Online, Germany (9,994,403)Artensterben: Weltbiodiversitätsrat warnt vor Nutzung wild lebender ArtenSpecies extinction: World Biodiversity Council warns against exploitation of wild species
https://www.zeit.de/wissen/umwelt/2022-07/artensterben-weltbiodiversitaetsrat-ipbes-wilde-arten

Press Trust of India, via Business Standard, India (8,685,041)Unsustainable hunting threat to 1,300 wild mammal species globally: Reporthttps://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/unsustainable-hunting-threat-to-1-300-wild-mammal-species-globally-report-122070800830_1.html

ORF Online, Austria (7,997,844)„Angebote der Natur“ sind in Gefahr“Offers of nature” are in danger
https://science.orf.at/stories/3213999/

YLE, Finland (4,901,588)Maailman luontopaneelin raportti: miljardit ihmiset ovat riippuvaisia luonnonvaraisista lajeista, siksi niitä pitää suojellaWorld Wildlife Panel report: billions of people depend on wild species, so they must be protectedhttps://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12528219

Indian Express, India (42,219,976)One million species at risk of extinction, warns report https://indianexpress.com/article/india/one-million-species-at-risk-of-extinction-warns-report-8018014/

El País, Spain (39,221,917 online, also in print below)La sobrexplotación amenaza a las especies silvestres de las que dependen miles de millones de personas en el mundohttps://elpais.com/clima-y-medio-ambiente/2022-07-08/la-sobreexplotacion-amenaza-a-las-especies-silvestres-de-las-que-dependen-miles-de-millones-de-personas-en-el-mundo.html

Scientias, Netherlands (719,239)Wetenschappers bieden handvatten voor duurzamer gebruik van wilde plant- en diersoorten https://scientias.nl/wetenschappers-bieden-handvatten-voor-duurzamer-gebruik-van-wilde-plant-en-diersoorten/

Full coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

Of the 18 science news releases produced in 2021, 16 were environment-themed: food waste, e-waste, oceans, biodiversity, dams, and floods. And one announced 14 living male relatives of Leonardo da Vinci, advancing a project investigating his DNA. 

2 minute slideshow: Click here

These releases generated over 9,200 news articles, published at thousands of online news sites in scores of countries and dozens of languages, ~33 billion potential public impressions in all, according to the Meltwater news search engine, which estimates actual impressions via online news sites at 825 million. Millions of additional impressions were also generated via print newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and social media.

With thanks to the researchers and collaborators behind these stories, and to the many journalists who covered them, the following releases were the most noted last year.

Unprecedented changes in climate and biodiversity, driven by human activities, have combined and increasingly threaten nature, human lives, livelihoods and well-being around the world. Biodiversity loss and climate change are both driven by human economic activities and mutually reinforce each other. Neither will be successfully resolved unless both are tackled together.

This is the message of a workshop report, published today by 50 of the world’s leading biodiversity and climate experts.

The peer-reviewed workshop report is the product of a four-day virtual workshop between experts selected by a 12-person Scientific Steering Committee assembled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the first-ever collaboration between these two intergovernmental bodies.

The report finds that previous policies have largely tackled biodiversity loss and climate change independently of each other, and that addressing the synergies between mitigating biodiversity loss and climate change, while considering their social impacts, offers the opportunity to maximize benefits and meet global development goals.

“Human-caused climate change is increasingly threatening nature and its contributions to people, including its ability to help mitigate climate change. The warmer the world gets, the less food, drinking water and other key contributions nature can make to our lives, in many regions” said Prof. Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of the Scientific Steering Committee.

“Changes in biodiversity, in turn, affect climate, especially through impacts on nitrogen, carbon and water cycles,” he said. “The evidence is clear: a sustainable global future for people and nature is still achievable, but it requires transformative change with rapid and far-reaching actions of a type never before attempted, building on ambitious emissions reductions. Solving some of the strong and apparently unavoidable trade-offs between climate and biodiversity will entail a profound collective shift of individual and shared values concerning nature – such as moving away from the conception of economic progress based solely on GDP growth, to one that balances human development with multiple values of nature for a good quality of life, while not overshooting biophysical and social limits.”

The authors also warn that narrowly-focused actions to combat climate change can directly and indirectly harm nature and vice-versa, but many measures exist that can make significant positive contributions in both areas.

Among the most important available actions identified in the report are:

• Stopping the loss and degradation of carbon- and species-rich ecosystems on land and in the ocean, especially forests, wetlands, peatlands, grasslands and savannahs; coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, kelp forests and seagrass meadows; as well as deep water and polar blue carbon habitats. The report highlights that reducing deforestation and forest degradation can contribute to lowering human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, by a wide range from 0.4-5.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year.
• Restoring carbon- and species-rich ecosystems. The authors point to evidence that restoration is among the cheapest and quickest nature-based climate mitigation measures to implement – offering much-needed habitat for plants and animals, thus enhancing resilience of biodiversity in the face of climate change, with many other benefits such as flood regulation, coastal protection, enhanced water quality, reduced soil erosion and ensuring pollination. Ecosystem restoration can also create jobs and income, especially when taking into consideration the needs and access rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
• Increasing sustainable agricultural and forestry practices to improve the capacity to adapt to climate change, enhance biodiversity, increase carbon storage and reduce emissions. These include measures such as diversification of planted crop and forest species, agroforestry and agroecology. Improved management of cropland and grazing systems, such as soil conservation and the reduction of fertilizer use, is jointly estimated by the report to offer annual climate change mitigation potential of 3-6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
• Enhancing and better-targeting conservation actions, coordinated with and supported by strong climate adaptation and innovation. Protected areas currently represent about 15% of land and 7.5% of the ocean. Positive outcomes are expected from substantially increasing intact and effectively protected areas. Global estimates of exact requirements for effectively protected and conserved areas to ensure a habitable climate, self-sustaining biodiversity and a good quality of life are not yet well established but range from 30 to 50 percent of all ocean and land surface areas. Options to improve the positive impacts of protected areas include greater resourcing, better management and enforcement, and improved distribution with increased inter-connectivity between these areas. Conservation measures beyond protected areas are also spotlighted – including migration corridors and planning for shifting climates, as well as better integration of people with nature to assure equity of access and use of nature’s contributions to people.
• Eliminating subsidies that support local and national activities harmful to biodiversity – such as deforestation, over-fertilization and over-fishing, can also support climate change mitigation and adaptation, together with changing individual consumption patterns, reducing loss and waste, and shifting diets, especially in rich countries, toward more plant-based options.Some focused climate mitigation and adaptation measures identified by the report as harmful to biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people include:
• Planting bioenergy crops in monocultures over a very large share of land areas. Such crops are detrimental to ecosystems when deployed at very large scales, reducing nature’s contributions to people and impeding achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals. At small scales, alongside pronounced and rapid reductions in fossil-fuel emissions, dedicated bioenergy crops for electricity production or fuels may provide co-benefits for climate adaptation and biodiversity.
• Planting trees in ecosystems that have not historically been forests and reforestation with monocultures – especially with exotic tree species. This can contribute to climate change mitigation but is often damaging to biodiversity, food production and other nature’s contributions to people, has no clear benefits for climate adaptation, and may displace local people through competition for land.
• Increasing irrigation capacity. A common response to adapt agricultural systems to drought that often leads to water conflicts, dam building and long- term soil degradation from salinization.
• Any measures that focus too narrowly on climate change mitigation should be evaluated in terms of their overall benefits and risks, such as some renewable energies generating surges of mining activity or consuming large amounts of land. The same applies to some technical measures too narrowly focused on adaptation, such as building dams and sea walls. Although important options for mitigating and adapting to climate change exist, these can have large negative environmental and social impacts – such as interference with migratory species and habitat fragmentation. Such impacts can be minimized, for instance, by developing alternative batteries and long-lived products, efficient recycling systems for mineral resources, and approaches to mining that include strong considerations for environmental and social sustainability.

The report authors stress that while nature offers effective ways to help mitigate climate change, these solutions can only be effective if building on ambitious reductions in all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. “Land and ocean are already doing a lot – absorbing almost 50% of CO2 from human emissions – but nature cannot do everything,” said Ana María Hernández Salgar, Chair of IPBES. “Transformative change in all parts of society and our economy is needed to stabilize our climate, stop biodiversity loss and chart a path to the sustainable future we want. This will also require us to address both crises together, in complementary ways.”

Highlighting the significance of the co-sponsored workshop, Dr. Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC, said: “Climate change and biodiversity loss combine to threaten society – often magnifying and accelerating each other. By focusing on synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation, this workshop advanced the debate on how to maximize benefits to people and the planet. It also represented an important step in collaboration between our two communities.”

“It may be impossible to achieve win-win synergies, or even manage the tradeoffs between climate and biodiversity actions in every single patch of a landscape or seascape,” said Prof. Pörtner, “But achieving sustainable outcomes becomes progressively easier when integrating a mix of actions at larger spatial scales, through cross-border collaboration and joint consultative spatial planning, which is why it is important to also address the lack of effective governance systems and mechanisms to improve integration between solutions for climate change and biodiversity.”

###

The Governments of the United Kingdom and of Norway co-hosted the virtual workshop. “This is an absolutely critical year for nature and climate,” said Lord Zac Goldsmith, UK Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment. “With the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, and the Glasgow Climate Change Conference in the UK, we have an opportunity and responsibility to put the world on a path to recovery. This hugely valuable report by the experts of IPBES and IPCC makes it clear that addressing biodiversity loss and climate change together offers our best chance of doing so.”

Sveinung Rotevatn, Norwegian Minister for Climate and Environment added: “Policies, efforts and actions to solve the global biodiversity and climate crises will only succeed if they are based on the best knowledge and evidence, which is why Norway welcomes this expert workshop report. It is clear that we cannot solve these threats in isolation – we either solve both or we solve neither.”

Paying tribute to the work of all the authors and expert reviewers, the Executive Secretary of IPBES, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, also recalled the recent and tragic passing of Prof. Robert Scholes, the other Co-Chair of the workshop’s Scientific Steering Committee, and his many contributions to both the IPCC and IPBES.

It is important to note that the workshop report has not been subjected to IPBES or IPCC review, and that IPBES and IPCC co-sponsorship of the workshop does not imply IPBES or IPCC endorsement or approval of the workshop or its conclusions.

The report is available at http://www.ipbes.net/biodiversityclimatescience

* * * * *

Coverage highlights:

The New York Times: click here

The Guardian, click here

Associated Press, click here

Reuters, click here

Deutsche Presse Agentur, click here

Agencia EFE, click here

BBC, click here

Le Monde, click here

EL PAÍS, click here

Süddeutsche Zeitung, click here

New Scientist, click here

MSN News, click here

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Full news release, click here

Coverage summary, click here

Highlights: Intergovernmental council on pandemic prevention; risk drivers include deforestation, wildlife trade; tax high pandemic-risk activities; 540,000 – 850,000 unknown viruses in nature could infect people; economic impacts 100x prevention costs

Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics by 22 leading experts from around the world.

Convened by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) for an urgent virtual workshop about the links between degradation of nature and increasing pandemic risks, the experts agree that escaping the era of pandemics is possible, but that this will require a seismic shift in approach from reaction to prevention.

COVID-19 is at least the sixth global health pandemic since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918, and although it has its origins in microbes carried by animals, like all pandemics its emergence has been entirely driven by human activities, says the report released on Thursday. It is estimated that another 1.7 million currently ‘undiscovered’ viruses exist in mammals and birds – of which up to 850,000 could have the ability to infect people.

“There is no great mystery about the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic – or of any modern pandemic”, said Dr. Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance and Chair of the IPBES workshop. “The same human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment. Changes in the way we use land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production and consumption disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens and people. This is the path to pandemics.”

Pandemic risk can be significantly lowered by reducing the human activities that drive the loss of biodiversity, by greater conservation of protected areas, and through measures that reduce unsustainable exploitation of high biodiversity regions. This will reduce wildlife-livestock-human contact and help prevent the spillover of new diseases, says the report.

“The overwhelming scientific evidence points to a very positive conclusion,” said Dr. Daszak. “We have the increasing ability to prevent pandemics – but the way we are tackling them right now largely ignores that ability. Our approach has effectively stagnated – we still rely on attempts to contain and control diseases after they emerge, through vaccines and therapeutics. We can escape the era of pandemics, but this requires a much greater focus on prevention in addition to reaction.”

“The fact that human activity has been able to so fundamentally change our natural environment need not always be a negative outcome. It also provides convincing proof of our power to drive the change needed to reduce the risk of future pandemics – while simultaneously benefiting conservation and reducing climate change.”

The report says that relying on responses to diseases after their emergence, such as public health measures and technological solutions, in particular the rapid design and distribution of new vaccines and therapeutics, is a “slow and uncertain path”, underscoring both the widespread human suffering and the tens of billions of dollars in annual economic damage to the global economy of reacting to pandemics.

Pointing to the likely cost of COVID-19 of $8-16 trillion globally by July 2020, it is further estimated that costs in the United States alone may reach as high as $16 trillion by the 4th quarter of 2021. The experts estimate the cost of reducing risks to prevent pandemics to be 100 times less than the cost of responding to such pandemics, “providing strong economic incentives for transformative change.”

The report also offers a number of policy options that would help to reduce and address pandemic risk. Among these are:

• Launching a high-level intergovernmental council on pandemic prevention to provide decision-makers with the best science and evidence on emerging diseases; predict high-risk areas; evaluate the economic impact of potential pandemics and to highlight research gaps. Such a council could also coordinate the design of a global monitoring framework.
• Countries setting mutually-agreed goals or targets within the framework of an international accord or agreement – with clear benefits for people, animals and the environment.
• Institutionalizing the ‘One Health’ approach in national governments to build pandemic preparedness, enhance pandemic prevention programs, and to investigate and control outbreaks across sectors.
• Developing and incorporating pandemic and emerging disease risk health impact assessments in major development and land-use projects, while reforming financial aid for land-use so that benefits and risks to biodiversity and health are recognized and explicitly targeted.
• Ensuring that the economic cost of pandemics is factored into consumption, production, and government policies and budgets.
• Enabling changes to reduce the types of consumption, globalized agricultural expansion and trade that have led to pandemics – this could include taxes or levies on meat consumption, livestock production and other forms of high pandemic-risk activities.
• Reducing zoonotic disease risks in the international wildlife trade through a new intergovernmental ‘health and trade’ partnership; reducing or removing high disease-risk species in the wildlife trade; enhancing law enforcement in all aspects of the illegal wildlife trade and improving community education in disease hotspots about the health risks of wildlife trade.
• Valuing Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ engagement and knowledge in pandemic prevention programs, achieving greater food security, and reducing consumption of wildlife.
• Closing critical knowledge gaps such as those about key risk behaviors, the relative importance of illegal, unregulated, and the legal and regulated wildlife trade in disease risk, and improving understanding of the relationship between ecosystem degradation and restoration, landscape structure and the risk of disease emergence.

Speaking about the workshop report, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of IPBES said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of science and expertise to inform policy and decision-making. Although it is not one of the typical IPBES intergovernmental assessments reports, this is an extraordinary peer-reviewed expert publication, representing the perspectives of some of the world’s leading scientists, with the most up-to-date evidence and produced under significant time constraints. We congratulate Dr. Daszak and the other authors of this workshop report and thank them for this vital contribution to our understanding of the emergence of pandemics and options for controlling and preventing future outbreaks. This will inform a number of IPBES assessments already underway, in addition to offering decision-makers new insights into pandemic risk reduction and options for prevention.”

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The full report is available here: http://www.ipbes.net/pandemics

Executive summary: http://bit.ly/PandemicReportExecSum

The report, its recommendations and conclusions have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by the member States of IPBES – it represents the expertise and perspectives of the experts who participated in the workshop, listed here in full: https://ipbes.net/biodiversity-pandemics-participants

The IPBES workshop report is one of the most scientifically robust examinations of the evidence and knowledge about links between pandemic risk and nature since the COVID pandemic began – with contributions from leading experts in fields as diverse as epidemiology, zoology, public health, disease ecology, comparative pathology, veterinary medicine, pharmacology, wildlife health, mathematical modelling, economics, law and public policy.

The report is also strongly scientifically substantiated, with almost than 700 cited sources – more than 200 of which are from 2020 and 2019 – which offers decision-makers a valuable analytical snap-shot of the most up-to-date data currently available.

17 of the 22 experts were nominated by Governments and organizations following a call for nominations; 5 experts were added from the ongoing IPBES assessment of the sustainable use of wild species, the assessment on values and the assessment of invasive alien species, as well as experts assisting with the scoping of the IPBES nexus assessment and transformative change assessments.

Resource persons who contributed information but were not authors of the report included experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 130 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit http://www.ipbes.net

Coverage highlights

Newswires

Thomson Reuters Foundation, UK, Scientists propose tax on meat and livestock to help avert future pandemics, click here

Press Association, UK, via Daily Mail, UK (24,234,282) Worse pandemics to come without action to curb harm to nature, report warns, click here

Agence France Press, via Yahoo news, United States (62,060,100) Nature loss means deadlier future pandemics, UN warns, click here

French, via Le Figaro, France (28,585,893) Les pandémies vont se multiplier et faire plus de morts, selon des experts de l’ONU, click here

Portuguese, via Globo, Brazil (12,086,233), Protejam a natureza ou enfrentem pandemias mais graves do que a Covid-19, alertam cientistas, click here 

Agencia EFE, via Infobae, Argentina (36,782,390) Reducir la pérdida de la biodiversidad evitará una era de pandemias (Reducing biodiversity loss will prevent an era of pandemics), click here

ANSA, Italy (12,621,632) Covid: studio, rischio pandemie peggiori. Serve prevenirle (Covid: study, worse pandemic risk. We need to prevent them), click here

Deutsche Presse Agentur, Germany, Forscher: Naturschutz kann Pandemien vorbeugen (Researcher: Conservation can prevent pandemics), click here

Kyodo News, via Yahoo! Japan (potential impressions: 92,198,566) 環境破壊が動物由来の感染症招く コロナの損害16兆ドル試算 (Environmental destruction causes infectious diseases of animal origin Corona damage estimated at $ 16 trillion), click here

The Canadian Press, via CTV News, Canada (14,461,132) Nature loss means deadlier future pandemics, UN warns, click here

* * * * *

Major news sites

UK

Daily Mail

Worse pandemics to come without action to protect wildlife: Scientists warn there are up to 850,000 undiscovered viruses in birds and mammals that could infect humans, click here

The Guardian (87,129,192) Protecting nature is vital to ‘escaping era of pandemics’ – report, click here

BBC News (75,721,184) Cheaper to prevent pandemics than ‘cure’ them, click here

New Scientist, Controlling deforestation and wildlife trade could prevent pandemics, click here

The Independent, Halt the climate and nature-loss crises to prevent more pandemics, scientists tell world leaders, click here

USA

The Hill (24,796,323) UN warns of deadlier pandemics, click here

Gizmodo, Why Saving Nature Is the Best Way to End the Pandemic Era, click here

France

Le Monde (26,209,339) Prévenir les pandémies plutôt que guérir serait cent fois moins coûteux (Preventing pandemics rather than curing would be a hundred times cheaper), click here

Le Parisien (18,817,118) L’ONU anticipe des pandémies plus fréquentes et plus meurtrières (The UN anticipates more frequent and deadly pandemics), click here

20 Minutes (16,456,797) Les pandémies vont se multiplier et faire plus de morts, avertit l’ONU (Pandemics to multiply and kill more, UN warns), click here

Germany

Der Spiegel (24,711,886) Weltbiodiversitätsrat fordert Strategiewechsel im Kampf gegen Viren (World Biodiversity Council calls for a change in strategy in the fight against viruses), click here

Süddeutsche (14,705,059) Zoonosen Das Pandemiezeitalter muss nicht kommen (Zoonoses The age of pandemics need not come), click here

Spain 

LaVanguardia (32,424,925) Los expertos reclaman rearmar el planeta contra pandemias “más frecuentes, mortales y costosas” (Experts claim to rearm the planet against pandemics “more frequent, deadly and costly”), click here

El Diario (12,162,225) La ONU certifica que las mismas agresiones ambientales detrás del cambio climático causan las pandemias como la COVID-19 (The UN certifies that the same environmental aggressions behind climate change cause pandemics such as COVID-19), click here

Latin America

Infobae, Argentina (36,782,390) Las pandemias del futuro serán más mortales y costosas sin cambios en los modelos de producción (Future pandemics will be more deadly and costly without changes in production models), click here

El Tiempo, Colombia (13,807,544), ¿Qué es el ‘efecto dilución’, clave para evitar futuras pandemias? (What is the ‘dilution effect’, key to avoiding future pandemics?), click here

Poland

Onet (21,015,525), Eksperci nie mają dobrych wieści: kolejne pandemie będą gorsze niż obecna (There is no good news for experts: future pandemics will be worse than the current one), click here

Korea 

Daum (28,902,455) 미발견 바이러스 170만종 중 85만종 인간 감염 가능 (850,000 out of 1.7 million undiscovered viruses can infect humans), click here

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 report outlines 8 major transitions needed to slow, then halt nature’s accelerating decline

Final report card on Aichi Biodiversity Targets, set in 2010: 6 of world’s 20 goals “partially achieved” by 2020 deadline.

Towards a landmark new global post-2020 biodiversity framework: GBO-5 synthesizes scientific basis for urgent action.

Bright spots include: extinctions prevented by conservation, more land and oceans protected, fish stocks bounce back in well-managed fisheries.

Montreal — Despite encouraging progress in several areas, the natural world is suffering badly and getting worse. Eight transformative changes are, therefore, urgently needed to ensure human wellbeing and save the planet, the UN warns in a major report.

The report comes as the COVID-19 pandemic challenges people to rethink their relationship with nature, and to consider the profound consequences to their own wellbeing and survival that can result from continued biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems.

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5), published by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), offers an authoritative overview of the state of nature. It is a final report card on progress against the 20 global biodiversity targets agreed in 2010 with a 2020 deadline, and offers lessons learned and best practices for getting on track.

“This flagship report underlines that ‘humanity stands at a crossroads with regard to the legacy we wish to leave to future generations,'” said CBD Executive Secretary, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema.

“Many good things are happening around the world and these should be celebrated and encouraged. Nevertheless, the rate of biodiversity loss is unprecedented in human history and pressures are intensifying.  Earth’s living systems as a whole are being compromised.  And the more humanity exploits nature in unsustainable ways and undermines its contributions to people, the more we undermine our own well-being, security and prosperity.”

News release in full, click here

GBO5 media coverage, summary presentation, click here