Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is a report
Background
In 2010 a resolution by the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly urged the United Nations Environment Programme to convene a plenary meeting to establish an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).[4][5] In 2013 an initial conceptual framework was adopted for the prospective IPBES plenary.[5]
From 29 April to 4 May 2019, representatives of the 132 IPBES members met in Paris, France, to receive the IPBES's full report and adopted a summary of it for
Objective and scope
The Global Assessment Report is a global-level assessment of changes in Earth's
The IPBES Report—an analogue to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report — is intended to form a scientific basis for informed political and societal decisions on biodiversity policies.[11] It is the first United Nations report on the global state of biodiversity since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published in 2005.[12]
Overview
"Finding out that 1 million species face extinction without radical corrective changes in human behavior is akin to finding out you have a fatal disease. One day you have a thousand problems; the next, you have just one. Nothing in today’s headlines compares to the catastrophic potential posed by climate change and the decimating effects of careless consumerism around the globe."
Kathleen Parker for The Washington Post, May 7, 2019[13]
The Report examined the rate of decline in biodiversity and found that the adverse effects of human activities on the world's
Since the 16th century, at least 680 species of
According to the Report, the threat to
The total biomass of wild mammals has decreased by 82 percent, while humans and their farm animals now make up 96 percent of all mammalian biomass on Earth.[10] Additionally, since 1992 the land requirement for human settlements has more than doubled worldwide;[25] and humanity has rendered 23 percent of Earth's land ecologically degraded and no longer usable.[24] Industrial farming is considered to be one of the major contributors to this decline.[26][27] Around 25% of the planet's ice-free land is being used to rear cattle for human consumption.[10]
In the oceans, overfishing is a major cause of species loss.[16][27] Some 300–400 million metric tons (660–880 billion lb) of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge, and other wastes per year enter the water cycle from industrial facilities.[10][28] Since the 19th century, the world's coral reefs have been reduced by half.[24]
When estimating the effect of
Conclusions
The Report warned that society should not fixate on
See also
- Anthropocene
- Biodiversity loss
- Defaunation
- Deforestation
- Effects of global warming
- Holocene extinction
- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
- The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
- Special Report on Climate Change and Land
- Planetary boundaries
References
- ^ "Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services". 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ Niranjan, Ajit (22 May 2019). "As extinctions loom, biodiversity warnings fail to resonate with governments, media". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
- ^ "World is 'on notice' as major UN report shows one million species face extinction". UN News. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- PMID 29706803.
- ^ S2CID 143298612.
- ^ a b c "Media Release: Nature's Dangerous Decline 'Unprecedented'; Species Extinction Rates 'Accelerating'". IPBES. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ "Nature's decline 'unprecedented' in human history: 1 million species threatened with extinction". Radboud University.
- ^ a b c d "One million species at risk of extinction, UN report warns". National Geographic. 6 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Watts, Jonathan (6 May 2019). "Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- PMID 30135536.
- ^ a b Stokstad, Erik (5 May 2019). "Landmark analysis documents the alarming global decline of nature". Science. AAAS. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ Parker, Kathleen (7 May 2019). "Nothing in today's headlines compares to the coming catastrophe". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
- ^ "Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an 'Unprecedented' Pace". The New York Times. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ Hancock, Farah (7 May 2019). "Million species facing extinction: report". Newsroom. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ a b Borenstein, Seth (6 May 2019). "UN report: Humans accelerating extinction of other species". AP News. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ Shieber, Jonathan (6 May 2019). "New study shows human development is destroying the planet at an unprecedented rate". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ISSN 0174-4917. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ Resnick, Brian (7 May 2019). "A million species are at risk of extinction. Humans are to blame". Vox. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ Dalton, Jane (6 May 2019). "UN issues world alert over 'direct threat to humanity'". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ "UN Report: Nature's Dangerous Decline 'Unprecedented'; Species Extinction Rates 'Accelerating'". un.org. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
Since 1970 the global human population has more than doubled (from 3.7 to 7.6 billion), rising unevenly across countries and regions; and per capita gross domestic product is four times higher – with ever-more distant consumers shifting the environmental burden of consumption and production across regions.
- ^ Cookson, Clive (6 May 2019). "Extinctions increasing at unprecedented pace, UN study warns". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ a b McGrath, Matt (6 May 2019). "Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction'". BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d Schwägerl, Christian (6 May 2019). "Dramatischer Uno-Bericht: Eine Million Arten vom Aussterben bedroht". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
- ^ Fingas, Jon (6 May 2019). "UN study says humans are damaging nature at 'unprecedented' rate". Engadget. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- The Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
"The food system is the root of the problem. The cost of ecological degradation is not considered in the price we pay for food, yet we are still subsidizing fisheries and agriculture." - Mark Rounsevell
- ^ a b Van Roekel, Annemieke (11 June 2019). "Earth's biota entering a sixth mass extinction, UN report claims". EuroScience.
Main offenders are industrial agriculture and fisheries.
- ^ Pirani, Fiza (7 May 2019). "More than 1 million species at risk of extinction because of humans, UN warns". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ Hannam, Peter (6 May 2019). "'Unparalleled': A million species at risk as humanity's impact rises". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
A key constituent of sustainable pathways is the evolution of global financial and economic systems to build a global sustainable economy, steering away from the current limited paradigm of economic growth.
- ^ "One million species to go extinct 'within decades'". Al Jazeera English. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ a b "World must undergo huge social and financial transformation to save future of human life, major report finds". The Independent. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ "We're facing a biodiversity crisis, according to landmark UN study". The Ecosia Blog. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ Noor, Dharna (15 June 2019). "Socialism or Extinction". Jacobin. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
- ^ "Biodiversity Assessment". Biodiversity Assessment.