Biodiversity at risk, IPBES calls for urgent action

A report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), released in Windhoek, Namibia, is calling for a fundamental shift in how humanity views and interacts with the natural world.

Biodiversity loss is accelerating at an alarming rate, threatening ecosystems and human well-being, warns the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in its report, Transformative Change Report released in Namibia.

In a press statement, IPBES says that the report calls for urgent, systemic shifts to address the root causes of nature’s decline. By promoting equity, inclusive governance, and human-nature interconnectedness, it outlines strategies to halt biodiversity loss and secure a sustainable future for all.

IPBES says  that addressing the biodiversity crisis requires urgent, systemic changes in societal structures, governance, and behaviours.

It adds that the report is a culmination of three years of research by over 100 experts from 42 countries.

IPBES says that the report is built on its earlier assessments, including the 2019 Global Assessment Report and the 2022 Values Assessment Report.

It adds that the findings are clear that the current approaches to conservation are inadequate, and a fundamental transformation is needed to achieve the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

According to the report, biodiversity loss is accelerating, with irreversible tipping points looming, including the collapse of low-altitude coral reefs and the dieback of the Amazon rainforest.

It adds that the economic repercussions of this loss are staggering. Delaying action by even a decade could double the costs of reversing biodiversity decline. On the other hand, immediate action offers significant opportunities, including the potential to generate USD 10 trillion in business value and create 395 million jobs globally by 2030.

The report identifies the root causes of biodiversity loss as the disconnection between humans and nature, inequitable concentration of power and wealth, and the prioritisation of short-term gains. These factors perpetuate unsustainable practices and environmental degradation.

The report outlines four guiding principles for transformative change, namely ‘Equity and Justice’, ‘Pluralism and Inclusion’, ‘Respectful Human-Nature Relationships and Adaptive Learning and Action.

The report  highlights the need for systemic shifts in governance, economic systems, and societal values. These principles aim to create a framework that addresses both environmental sustainability and social equity.

The report suggests five key strategies to achieve transformative change: Conservation and Restoration, Initiatives like Nepal’s Community Forestry Programme show that integrating local needs into conservation efforts can restore degraded ecosystems while supporting communities.

The report says that agriculture, fisheries, and urban development must adopt nature-positive practices. Regenerative land use and biodiversity-focused agriculture, for instance, can enhance both productivity and ecosystem health.

It adds that reforming subsidies, adopting true cost accounting, and prioritising sustainability in taxation can address the biodiversity funding gap, currently estimated at USD 598–824 billion annually.

The statement adds that the cultivating a sense of interconnectedness with nature through education, policy changes, and Indigenous knowledge systems is crucial for long-term behavioural change.

It adds that dspite the urgency, vested interests, inadequate policies, and systemic inequalities hinder transformative change.

The report criticizes the increasing funding of environmentally harmful subsidies up 55 pc since 2021 and the lobbying efforts that block sustainable initiatives.

The report emphasises the value of Indigenous and local knowledge systems in achieving sustainability. Practices rooted in reciprocity, care, and non-human ways of knowing offer innovative solutions for conservation and resource management.

The report stresses that transformative change is not the responsibility of governments alone. Civil society, private sector actors, Indigenous communities, and individual citizens all have roles to play.

It adds that the governments can drive policy coherence and phase out harmful subsidies, while civil society can mobilise citizens and hold corporations accountable. Collaboration across sectors and scales is essential to creating a just and sustainable world.

The statement adds that the Transformative Change Report is both a warning and a roadmap.

It adds that the humanity stands at a crossroads, the message is clear: the time for incremental change has passed. Transformative change offers a path not only to halt biodiversity loss but to reimagine a future where people and nature thrive together.

IPBES says that the report is co-chaired by  Karen O’Brien (Norway/USA),  Arun Agrawal (India/USA), and  Lucas Garibaldi (Argentina).

“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. 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,” says O Brien.

“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 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. 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,” O’Brien adds.

“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.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,” says Agrawal.

“As complex and challenging as it is to address these underlying causes of biodiversity loss, it is possible. 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,” says  Garibaldi.

“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. 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,” says Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary, IPBES.