25 September 2020

As the UN Secretary-General has said, we are currently grappling with the worst global crisis since World War II. As leaders respond to these unprecedented challenges and take the decisions that will shape societies for decades to come, it is of paramount importance that science and evidence should guide our actions, helping us to build back better, by mending our increasingly frayed relationship with nature.

In May 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) launched its landmark Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. It triggered headlines around the world about the fact that 1 million species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction. In many ways, it woke the world to the urgency of the crisis facing biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.

While the perilous state of nature has dominated media coverage – again this month – the complete story is, in fact, more hopeful and filled with opportunities for innovative solutions to our nature and climate challenges, which also underlie the only possible paths to successfully achieve the 2030 Agenda and to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

As the General Assembly finalizes preparations for the Summit on Biodiversity, on 30 September, we want to take this opportunity to recall the science and evidence that highlights the solutions for many of these challenges that can be found in nature.

This special edition of IPS news encapsulates some of the landmark findings and insights from the IPBES Global Assessment Report. Decision-makers are better poised than ever to transform biodiversity concerns into tangible actions, which can ensure a more sustainable future for people and nature.

This is especially critical as leaders move towards agreement on a new global biodiversity framework at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-15) in China next year.

Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented, but it is not too late to act. Incremental change will not be sufficient – the science shows that transformative change is urgently needed to restore and protect nature.

As hundreds of the world’s leading scientists found, and intergovernmental representatives from more than 130 Member States agreed: “By its very nature, transformative change can expect opposition from those with interests vested in the status quo, but such opposition can be overcome for the broader public good.”

Sincerely,

Dr. Anne Larigauderie
IPBES Executive Secretary