By IUCN CEM member on 11 May 2019.
The loss of species, ecosystems and genetic diversity is already a global and generational threat to human well-being. Protecting the invaluable contributions of nature to people will be the defining challenge of decades to come. Policies, efforts and actions – at every level – will only succeed, however, when based on the best knowledge and evidence. This is what the IPBES Global Assessment provides.”
– Sir Robert Watson, IPBES Chair
The plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Seventh session had recently concluded at Paris from 29 April to 06 May 2019. It is regarded as the most comprehensive assessment of its kind. As there are increased assessment efforts by IUCN and its partners over time the threat faced by the species is becoming clearer. It is estimated now that 1,000,000 species are threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history. The approved summary of IPBES 7 urges that current global response insufficient and ‘Transformative changes’ needed to restore and protect nature.
IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson had raised the alarm that “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” The session called for transformative changes with activities at local and global level.
IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is recognized as the most exhaustive one with 145 expert authors from 50 countries and inputs from another 310 contributing authors over the past three years based on the systematic evaluation of all accessible sources. It is estimated that since 1900, the average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has declined by at least 20%. More than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of reef-forming corals and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened. The scenario for insect species is not clear, but it is provisionally determined as 10% being threatened. Since the 16th century, at least 680 vertebrate species had been forced to extinction and further 9% of all domesticated breeds of mammals used for food and agriculture had become extinct by 2016, with at least 1,000 more breeds still threatened. The numbers of invasive alien species per country have raised by about 70% since 1970, across the 21 countries. Nature managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities is under rising pressure but is usually declining less rapidly than in other lands As a direct result of human activity, “the essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed,” said Prof. Settele. Since 1980, greenhouse gas emissions have doubled, raising average global temperatures by at least 0.7 degrees Celsius. It was observed that the goals for 2030 cannot be achieved in current trajectory and transformational changes across economic, social, political and technological aspects is required.
Notable findings of the Report include:
- Three-quarters of the land-based environment and about 66% of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions. On average these trends have been less severe or avoided in areas held or managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.
- More than a third of the world’s land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production.
- The value of agricultural crop production has increased by about 300% since 1970, raw timber harvest has risen by 45% and approximately 60 billion tons of renewable and non-renewable resources are now extracted globally every year—having nearly doubled since 1980.
- Land degradation has reduced the productivity of 23% of the global land surface, up to US$577 billion in annual global crops are at risk from pollinator loss and 100-300 million people are at increased risk of floods and hurricanes because of loss of coastal habitats and protection.
- In 2015, 33% of marine fish stocks were being harvested at unsustainable levels; 60% were maximally sustainably fished, with just 7% harvested at levels lower than what can be sustainably fished.
- Urban areas have more than doubled since 1992.
- Plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980, 300–400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other wastes from industrial facilities are dumped annually into the world’s waters, and fertilizers entering coastal ecosystems have produced more than 400 ocean ‘dead zones’, totalling more than 245,000 km2 (591-595) – a combined area greater than that of the United Kingdom.
- Negative trends in nature will continue to 2050 and beyond in all the policy scenarios explored in the Report, except those that include a transformative change—due to the projected impacts of increasing land-use change, exploitation of organisms and climate change, although with significant differences between regions.
The Report suggests a descriptive list of probable actions and pathways to be undertaken in agriculture, marine systems, freshwater systems and urban areas for achieving the SDGs. Across all cases, the Report recognises the importance of incorporating different value systems and diverse interests and worldviews in drafting policies and actions and creating the scientific basis for the biodiversity framework and new decadal targets for biodiversity, to be decided in late 2020 in China.
Key messages in SPM
- Nature and its vital contributions to people, which together embody biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are deteriorating worldwide.
- Direct and indirect drivers of change have accelerated during the past 50 years
- Goals for conserving and sustainably using nature and achieving sustainability cannot be met by current trajectories, and goals for 2030 and beyond may only be achieved through transformative changes across economic, social, political and technological factors
- Nature can be conserved, restored and used sustainably while simultaneously meeting other global societal goals through urgent and concerted efforts fostering transformative change
The plenary reiterates that resistance from vested interests can be overcome for public good. More details on IPBES 7 can be found here.
This article is composed of inputs from IPBES 7 Summary for policymakers of the global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services and IPBES 7 media release.