The health of ecosystems that humans and other species depend on is “deteriorating more rapidly than ever”, with up to one million species threatened with extinction, many within decades, a large-scale global assessment by a United Nations body has found.
The health of ecosystems that humans and other species depend on is “deteriorating more rapidly than ever”, with up to one million species threatened with extinction, many within decades, a large-scale global assessment by a United Nations body has found.
Natural habitats are being destroyed at an accelerating pace, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report says, adding that the current rate of global species extinction is “tens to hundreds of times” higher compared to the average over the last 10 million years. “Even for global warming of 1.5 to 2 degrees, the majority of terrestrial species ranges are projected to shrink profoundly,” it notes.
This 1500-page report is amongst the most comprehensive health check-ups for the planet. Much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which provides scientific assessments of climate change, the IPBES was set up in 2012, to provide a larger sustainability framework informed by the latest science. This is the IPBES’ first report which can been seen as a ‘state of nature’ report. It is compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries over the past three years and provides an assessment that combines science, policy and knowledge.
It ranks “five direct drivers” that cause changes in nature that have the largest relative global impact. In descending order, these include: changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution and “invasive alien species”.
These “negative trends in nature” are expected to continue to 2050 and beyond in all of the policy scenarios explored in the assessment, “except those that include transformative change”.
“The report is the best scientific assessment of the state of our natural ecosystems. It is an account of what science says has happened to our natural environment in the last few decades,” Suneetha M Subramanian, policy researcher on biodiversity and human well-being, at the UN University Institute of Advanced Studies told The Indian Express. “Nature has been degraded in an unprecedented manner since the 1970s, primarily because of human interventions. It is not looking good at all. But the science-informed report also says that all is still not lost, and there is still an opportunity for human beings to live in harmony with nature. But we need to change the way in which we govern our natural resources, and change the way in which we produce and consume things.”
IPBES Chair, Robert Watson, said the report presents an “ominous picture”. “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,” he said.
A systematic review of 15,000 scientific and government sources and resources collected from indigenous and local knowledge were part of the assessment. The report finds that “three-quarters of the land-based environment and about 66% of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions”. Notably, “On average these trends have been less severe or avoided in areas held or managed by indigenous peoples and local communities.”
Natural habitats are being destroyed at an accelerating pace, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report says, adding that the current rate of global species extinction is “tens to hundreds of times” higher compared to the average over the last 10 million years. “Even for global warming of 1.5 to 2 degrees, the majority of terrestrial species ranges are projected to shrink profoundly,” it notes.
This 1500-page report is amongst the most comprehensive health check-ups for the planet. Much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which provides scientific assessments of climate change, the IPBES was set up in 2012, to provide a larger sustainability framework informed by the latest science. This is the IPBES’ first report which can been seen as a ‘state of nature’ report. It is compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries over the past three years and provides an assessment that combines science, policy and knowledge.
It ranks “five direct drivers” that cause changes in nature that have the largest relative global impact. In descending order, these include: changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution and “invasive alien species”.
These “negative trends in nature” are expected to continue to 2050 and beyond in all of the policy scenarios explored in the assessment, “except those that include transformative change”.
“The report is the best scientific assessment of the state of our natural ecosystems. It is an account of what science says has happened to our natural environment in the last few decades,” Suneetha M Subramanian, policy researcher on biodiversity and human well-being, at the UN University Institute of Advanced Studies told The Indian Express. “Nature has been degraded in an unprecedented manner since the 1970s, primarily because of human interventions. It is not looking good at all. But the science-informed report also says that all is still not lost, and there is still an opportunity for human beings to live in harmony with nature. But we need to change the way in which we govern our natural resources, and change the way in which we produce and consume things.”
IPBES Chair, Robert Watson, said the report presents an “ominous picture”. “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,” he said.
A systematic review of 15,000 scientific and government sources and resources collected from indigenous and local knowledge were part of the assessment. The report finds that “three-quarters of the land-based environment and about 66% of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions”. Notably, “On average these trends have been less severe or avoided in areas held or managed by indigenous peoples and local communities.”