PARIS (Reuters) - One million animal and plant species are at imminent risk of extinction due to humankind’s relentless pursuit of economic growth, scientists said on Monday in a landmark report on the devastating impact of modern civilization on the natural world.

Scientists made an impassioned appeal to governments and businesses worldwide to confront “vested interests” they said were blocking reforms in farming, energy and mining needed to save the Earth’s ecosystems.

“If we want to leave a world for our children and grandchildren that has not been destroyed by human activity, we need to act now,” said Robert Watson, who chaired the study, produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which groups 130 countries, including the United States, Russia and China.

“If we do not act now, many of the million threatened species will become as extinct as the dodo on this tie,” Watson told a news conference in Paris, gesturing to his tie, which bore a design of the flightless bird.

Known as the Global Assessment, the report found that up to one million of Earth’s estimated eight million plant, insect and animal species is at risk of extinction, many within decades.

It identified industrial farming and fishing as major drivers of the crisis, with the current rate of species extinction tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the last 10 million years.

Climate change caused by burning the coal, oil and gas produced by the fossil fuel industry is exacerbating the losses, the report found.

“We are facing a human extinction crisis,” said Hoda Baraka of 350.org, a climate change campaign group based in the United States. “We must work together to push back against the fossil fuel industry fuelling the climate crisis and for long-lasting and meaningful change.”

INTENSE NEGOTIATIONS

The largest, most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the conjoined fates of human wellbeing and the natural world, the report was finalised in Paris after intense negotiations between IPBES members that concluded at 0300 a.m. on Saturday.

FILE PHOTO: A man snorkels in an area called the "Coral Gardens" near Lady Elliot Island, on the Great Barrier Reef, northeast of Bundaberg town in Queensland, Australia, June 11, 2015. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

The report represents a cornerstone of an emerging body of research that suggests the world may need to embrace a new “post-growth” form of economics if it is to avert the existential risks posed by the cascading effects of pollution, habitat destruction and climate change.

Compiled over three years and based on 15,000 scientific papers, the report identified a range of risks, from the disappearance of insects vital for pollinating food crops, to the destruction of coral reefs that support fish populations and the loss of medicinal plants.

The threatened list includes more than 40 percent of amphibian species, almost 33 percent of reef-forming corals, sharks and shark relatives, and more than a third of all marine mammals. The picture was less clear for insect species, but a tentative estimate suggests 10 per cent could become extinct.

Publication of the report has coincided with an upsurge in environmental activism by groups including Extinction Rebellion, whose civil disobedience campaign forced the British parliament this month to declare a climate emergency.

The report’s blunt language echoed the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said in October that profound economic and social changes would be needed to curb greenhouse gases quickly enough to avert the most devastating consequences of a warming world.

The findings will also add to pressure for countries to agree bold action to protect wildlife at a major conference on biodiversity due to take place in China towards the end of next year, reinforcing a growing recognition among policy-makers that the extinction and climate crises are deeply interconnected.

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“We have reconfigured dramatically the life of the planet,” said Eduardo Brondizio, a professor of anthropology at Indiana University in the United States who co-chaired the report.

“The key message: business as usual has to end.”</s>1 Million Animal And Plant Species Are At Risk Of Extinction, U.N. Report Says

Enlarge this image toggle caption Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images

Up to 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on Earth are at risk of extinction — many of them within decades — according to scientists and researchers who produced a sweeping U.N. report on how humanity's burgeoning growth is putting the world's biodiversity at perilous risk.

Some of the report's findings might not seem new to those who have followed stories of how humans have affected the environment, from shifts in seasons to the prevalence of plastics and other contaminants in water. But its authors say the assessment is the most accurate and comprehensive review yet of the damage people are inflicting on the planet. And they warn that nature is declining at "unprecedented" rates and that the changes will put people at risk.

"Protecting biodiversity amounts to protecting humanity," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said at a news conference about the findings Monday morning.

The report depicts "an ominous picture," says Sir Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (commonly called the IPBES), which compiled the assessment.

"The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever," Watson says. He emphasizes that business and financial concerns are also threatened. "We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide," he says.

The report lists a number of key global threats, from humans' use of land and sea resources to challenges posed by climate change, pollution and invasive species.

"Insect pollinators are unfortunately an excellent example of the problems caused by human activities," Scott McArt, an entomology professor at Cornell University, says in a statement about the report.

"There's actually a newly coined phrase for insect declines — the 'windshield effect' — owing to the fact that if you drove your car at dusk 30 years ago, you would need to clean the windshield frequently, but that's no longer the case today," McArt says.

In its tally of humanity's toll on the Earth, the assessment says "approximately 60 billion tons of renewable and nonrenewable resources are now extracted globally every year," adding that the figure has nearly doubled since 1980.

Here's a short selection of some of the report's notable findings:

75% of land environment and some 66% of the marine environment "have been significantly altered by human actions."

"More than a third of the world's land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources" are used for crops or livestock.

"Up to $577 billion in annual global crops are at risk from pollinator loss."

Between 100 million and 300 million people now face "increased risk of floods and hurricanes because of loss of coastal habitats and protection."

Since 1992, the world's urban areas have more than doubled.

"Plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980," and from "300-400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge" and other industrial waste are dumped into the world's water systems.

"Biodiversity and nature's contributions to people are our common heritage and humanity's most important life-supporting 'safety net.' But our safety net is stretched almost to breaking point," says Sandra Díaz of Argentina, a co-chair of the global assessment.

Díaz and other experts portrayed humans as both the cause of the threat and a target of its risks. As humanity demands ever more food, energy, housing and other resources, they say, it's also undermining its own food security and long-term prospects.

"The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed," says Josef Settele, a co-chair from Germany. "This loss is a direct result of human activity and constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the world."

The report found patterns of "telecoupling," which another co-chair, Eduardo S. Brondízio of Brazil and the U.S., describes as the phenomenon of resources being extracted and made into goods in one part of the world "to satisfy the needs of distant consumers in other regions."

That pattern, Brondízio says, makes it more complicated to avoid damage to nature through the usual avenues of governance and accountability.

While the report's eye-popping statistics about what the world stands to lose because of human activity are drawing headlines, conservation advocates say they hope the assessment helps people grasp the bigger picture.

"The hope is that folks will be able to extrapolate beyond the individual stories they've been seeing about orcas or monarchs or bees or bats or caribou or whatever," says Collin O'Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. He adds that the new report could help people "see that this is a systemic threat that could potentially cause the sixth extinction even, if we don't act quickly."

Hundreds of experts worked together to create the global assessment, with a total of 455 authors representing 50 countries taking part, according to the IPBES.

The agency calls the report one of the most comprehensive assessments of the planet's health ever undertaken, saying it is the first global biodiversity assessment since 2005.

Its findings are based on reviews of some 15,000 scientific and government sources, the IPBES says, adding that in addition to those formal sources, the report also includes insights from indigenous and local communities.

To create the assessment, the IPBES was asked to answer several wide-ranging questions, from reporting on the current status and patterns of change in the natural world to "plausible futures" for nature and the quality of life through 2050. Other questions sought to find interventions and challenges for coping with those changes — and possibly improving dire outcomes.

The goal, the report's authors say, was not only to take stock of a worsening predicament but to give policymakers "the tools they need to make better choices for people and nature."

The assessment highlights dire predictions for habitats and native species in South America and parts of Asia. But the NWF's O'Mara warns that the U.S. also has much to lose — especially if biodiversity is viewed as someone else's problem.

"This is a problem here at home," O'Mara says. "About one-third of all species right now in the U.S. are at heightened risk of potential extinction in the next couple of decades."

Echoing what environmental experts said in Europe as the IPBES released its report, O'Mara says it is not too late to act.</s>Top scientists will tell the world Monday how bad off Mother Nature is.

The United Nations plans to issue its first comprehensive scientific report on biodiversity, looking hard at the threat of extinction for Earth's plant and animal species and what it means for humanity.

Report Chairman Robert Watson said last month that there are five major threats to biodiversity: the conversion of forests and grasslands into farms; overfishing of the oceans; climate change; and pollution and the spread of invasive species.

Watson said governments are beginning to take the issue seriously because if they cannot solve the intertwined threats of extinction and climate change, the world may end up hungrier and thirstier.

For the past week, scientists from around the globe have met in Paris to come up with an authoritative statement. The summary from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services must be unanimously approved by more than 100 nations.

When the meeting started, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay told negotiators that the report "will force us to face this dramatic degradation of biodiversity and to share this evidence with society as a whole."</s>"Biodiversity as a whole forms a shield protecting each of the species that together compose it, ourselves included." — E.O. Wilson, "Half-Earth"

Earth is teeming with life, from huge blue whales and redwoods to tiny bacteria, archaea and fungi. It's not just the only planet known to host any life at all; it has so many species in so many places we still aren't even sure how many there are.

We do know, however, that Earth is losing species unusually quickly at the moment. We're seeing a mass extinction event, something that's happened at least five times before on Earth, albeit never in human history — and never with human help.

Extinction is part of evolution, but not like this. Species are vanishing more quickly than any human has ever seen; the extinction rate for vertebrate animals is now 114 times higher than the historical background rate. Humans are driving this in several ways, from poaching to pollution, but the No. 1 factor is habitat loss.

This is raising deep concerns about Earth's biodiversity, which, as biologist E.O. Wilson has pointed out, is like an ecological shield for us and other species. According to a landmark U.N. report released in May 2019, today's extinction rate is both unprecedented in human history and rapidly rising, "with grave impacts on people around the world now likely." Around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, the report warns, many within years or decades.

"Ecosystems, species, wild populations, local varieties and breeds of domesticated plants and animals are shrinking, deteriorating or vanishing. The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed," says report co-chair Josef Settele, an entomologist at Germany's Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, in a statement. "This loss is a direct result of human activity and constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the world."

And according to another recent study, biodiversity loss has crossed the "safe" threshold in most of the world, leaving many ecosystems in danger of collapse.

A map of biodiversity loss in ecological hotspots around the world. (Image: Newbold et. al./Science)

"This is the first time we've quantified the effect of habitat loss on biodiversity globally in such detail," lead author and University College London researcher Tim Newbold said in a statement, "and we've found that across most of the world biodiversity loss is no longer within the safe limit suggested by ecologists."

Published in the journal Science, the study found that 58 percent of Earth's land surface — an area home to 71 percent of all humans — has already lost enough biodiversity "to question the ability of ecosystems to support human societies."

That certainly sounds bad. But why is biodiversity so important? Can't technology keep civilization running, regardless of what happens to the wildlife in dwindling forests, grasslands or wetlands? Here's a closer look at why biodiversity is a big deal — and why it's in our own best interest to preserve what's left.

The red-tailed bumblebee is an important crop pollinator in Europe. (Photo: Pippa Sanderson/Shutterstock)

About 75 percent of our food supply comes from just 12 plant species, and more than 90 percent of global livestock production comes from just 15 species of mammals and birds. That's deceptive, though, because those 27 species — along with many others that also provide food for humans — couldn't exist without help from hundreds of thousands of lesser-known species working behind the scenes.

A wide range of wildlife makes agriculture possible, including bats, bees, birds, dragonflies, frogs, ladybugs, mantises, moles, nematodes, salamanders, spiders, toads and wasps, among countless others. Of 264 crops grown in the European Union, more than 80 percent depend on insect pollinators, while bees alone boost U.S. crop revenue by more than $15 billion per year. Worldwide, bats save corn farmers about $1 billion annually by eating pests like corn earworm larvae.

Wildlife doesn't just protect and pollinate food; it often is our food, too. Hundreds of millions of people rely on daily protein from wild-caught fish, for example, including many fish that depend on healthy coral reefs. And while we mostly eat just a few domesticated crops today, about 7,000 plant species have been cultivated as food in human history — and their wild relatives hold a cache of genetic diversity that may prove priceless as drought or disease threaten monoculture crops.

About 70 percent of known plants with cancer-fighting properties exist only in rain forests. (Photo: soft_light/Shutterstock)

Biodiversity is linked to human health in several ways. By having a diverse mix of plants, fungi and animals to eat, we ensure nutrition that buffers our bodies against disease and other hardships. Higher biodiversity has also been linked to lower instance of disease, with studies finding lower human rates of Lyme disease, malaria, acute respiratory infection and diarrhea around protected natural areas.

But even when we can't avoid getting sick, biodiversity still swoops in to the rescue.

Medical discoveries frequently begin with research on the biology or genetics of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. This inspiration is especially prevalent in rain forests, biodiversity hotspots that contain half of all known species. The asthma drug theophylline comes from cacao trees, for example, and about 70 percent of plants with cancer-fighting properties occur only in rain forests. Yet medical insights can be found in other ecosystems, too, such as forests of eastern North America, where the eastern red cedar produces a compound that fights antibiotic-resistant bacteria.



"Every time a species goes extinct or genetic diversity is lost, we will never know whether research would have given us a new vaccine or drug," points out the National Wildlife Federation. And as The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative notes, "all ecosystems are a potential source of medicinal resources."

Soil biodiversity is key to the health of grasslands, like this one in Colorado. (Photo: U.S. Bureau of Land Management)

Food and medicine are just two of many "ecosystem services" humans can expect from biodiverse habitats. Here are a few other examples:
• Clean air: From old-growth forests to ocean phytoplankton, the oxygen we breathe is generated by photosynthesizing members of ecosystems around the world. Plants also absorb a variety of pollutants from the air, and sequester the excess carbon dioxide emissions that fuel climate change.
• Clean water: Forests help soil absorb more water, which can reduce flooding, limit erosion, filter out contaminants and refill aquifers. Wetlands also excel at "phytoremediation," or cleaning hazardous chemicals from water and soil. Different species bring different skills, so the more the merrier.
• Healthy soil: Soil naturally bustles with lots of arthropods and microorganisms, which are easy to overlook but provide a wide range of benefits. They provide food for slightly larger creatures, help nutrients cycle through soil, boost nutrient availability to roots and enhance plant health, among other things.
• Raw materials: Biodiverse ecosystems supply us with a diversity of raw materials, including wood, biofuels and plant oils that come from both wild and cultivated species. Materials from different plants offer different properties, such as harder or softer wood, or oils with varying smoke points.

As biodiversity falls below safe limits, these services are in jeopardy for a growing number of people. "Decision-makers worry a lot about economic recessions, but an ecological recession could have even worse consequences — and the biodiversity damage we've had means we're at risk of that happening," said Andy Purvis, a researcher at Imperial College London and co-author of the 2016 study. "Until and unless we can bring biodiversity back up, we're playing ecological roulette."

Anglers work near a coral reef in Indonesia, where people rely heavily on wild fish. (Photo: Ethan Daniels/Shutterstock)

One of the single most important aspects of biodiversity is that it provides insurance. According to the insurance hypothesis: "Biodiversity insures ecosystems against declines in their functioning because many species provide greater guarantees that some will maintain functioning even if others fail."

When an ecosystem has lots of different species, they can fill an array of different ecological niches, while in a monoculture they're all competing for the same niche. Biodiversity tends to increase overall rates of photosynthesis, and it also buffers the community against illness. Plant viruses often specialize in a certain species, genus or family of plants, so one viral strain can obliterate all members of a monoculture. In a biodiverse ecosystem, on the other hand, all the eggs are not in a single basket.

"Biodiversity allows for ecosystems to adjust to disturbances like extreme fires and floods," the NWF adds. "If a reptile species goes extinct, a forest with 20 other reptiles is likely to adapt better than another forest with only one reptile."



Sunrise illuminates the canopy of a rain forest in Sri Lanka. (Photo: Sergieiev/Shutterstock)

There are many practical reasons to preserve biodiversity. It saves us money and effort, protects our lives and livelihoods, and ensures we have enough to eat. It's also worth noting, however, that biodiversity is bigger than any one species, including us.

By leaving biodiversity intact, we let natural evolutionary processes continue. That's a long-term benefit beyond the scale of human lifetimes, but that doesn't mean it's not important. Evolution lets organisms adapt to environmental change, and who are we to interfere with that? Since it's possible for humans to thrive without destroying the ecosystems — and lives — around us, why destroy them? As a species capable of ruining ecosystems, we have a moral obligation not to screw everything up.

And, finally, the most basic beauty of biodiversity is the beauty itself. Spending time in nature offers many perks for people, like more creativity, better memory and faster healing. Feeling awe at the sight of nature can even reduce pro-inflammatory proteins in the body. But we don't need science to tell us that. All it takes is one step into an old-growth forest, or one paddle into an ancient estuary, to make clear that we aren't just lucky to be alive — we're lucky the world around us is, too.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new information since it was originally published in July 2016.

Earth's species are now vanishing at rates unprecedented in human history. That matters for more reasons than many people realize.</s>We are witnessing the loss of biodiversity at rates never before seen in human history. Nearly a million species face extinction if we do not fundamentally change our relationship with the natural world, according to the world’s largest assessment of biodiversity.

Last week, in the culmination of a process involving 500 biodiversity experts from over 50 countries, and 134 governments negotiated the final form of the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

IPBES aims to arm policy-makers with the tools to address the relationships between biodiversity and human well-being. It synthesises evidence on the state of biodiversity, ecosystems and natures’ contributions to people on a global scale.

The IPBES Global Assessment provides unequivocal evidence that we need biodiversity for human survival and well-being. To stem unprecedented species decline the assessment sets out the actions governments, the private sector and individuals can take.

Importantly, a whole chapter of the Global Assessment (about one-sixth of the assessment) is dedicated to examining whether existing biodiversity law and policy is adequate. This chapter also outlines ways to address the vortex of biodiversity decline.

If we are to halt the continued loss of nature, then the world’s legal, institutional and economic systems must be reformed entirely. And this change needs to happen immediately.

IPBES is the biodiversity equivalent to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Assessments are a fundamental part of IPBES’s work.

IPBES Assessments review thousands of biodiversity studies to identify broad trends and draw authoritative conclusions. In the case of the Global Assessment, IPBES authors reviewed more than 15,000 publications from scientific and governments sources.

Read more: Of bunyips and other beasts: living memories of long-extinct creatures in art and stories

Governments and stakeholders give feedback on the draft text, and experts respond meticulously to the thousands of comments before revising and clarifying the draft. A final summary of key findings is then negotiated with member states at plenary meetings – these meetings concluded on Saturday.

What did the Global Assessment find?

Human activity severely threatens biodiversity and ecosystem functions worldwide. About 1 million species are facing extinction. If nothing changes many of these could be gone within just decades.

But nature is vital to all aspects of human health. We rely on natural systems, not only for food, energy, medicine and genetic resources, but also for inspiration, learning and culture.

The report also reveals the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function is much less pronounced on lands managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities. It also recognises the significant role of Indigenous knowledge, governance systems and culturally-specific worldviews which adopt a stewardship approach to managing natural systems.

The report identified agriculture, forestry and urbanisation as the number one reason for biodiversity loss in land-based ecosystems and rivers. In the sea, fishing has had the greatest impact on biodiversity and is exacerbated by changes in the use of the sea and coastal lands.

This is followed closely by:
• None the direct use of species (primarily through harvesting, logging, hunting and fishing)

These factors are aggravated by underlying social values, such as unsustainable consumption and production, concentrated human populations, trade, technological advances, and governance at multiple scales.

The Global Assessment concludes that current biodiversity laws and policies have been insufficient to address the threats to the natural world.

Read more: Maybe we can, but should we? Deciding whether to bring back extinct species

What’s more, if nothing changes, neither the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Targets nor the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals are likely to be met.

And yet, the Global Assessment has an optimistic outlook. It emphasises that if the world’s legal, institutional and economic systems are transformed then it is possible to achieve a better future for biodiversity and human well-being in the next 30 years.

But this is only possible if reform happens immediately, as incremental change will be insufficient.

What must be done?

The Global Assessment puts forward these next, urgent steps:
• None we need to redefine human well-being beyond its narrow basis on economic growth

The report also recommends strengthening environmental laws and taking serious precautionary measures in public and private endeavours. Governments must recognise indivisibility of society and nature, and govern to strengthen rather than weaken the natural world.

What can I do?

Individuals can make meaningful change through what we produce and what we buy. Our food is an important starting point. You could, for instance, choose local or sustainably produced meals and reduce your food waste.

Champion the inclusion of Indigenous peoples and local communities

Indigenous and local communities need to be included and supported more than ever before. The Global Assessment provides clear evidence that lands managed by Indigenous and local communities are performing better in terms of biodiversity. Still, these lands face serious threats, and Indigenous communities continue to be marginalised around the world.

Provoke governments to do better

Current biodiversity laws and policies don’t adequately address the threats to the natural world. The report recommends the world include biodiversity considerations across all sectors and jurisdictions to prevent further degradation of natural systems. We have an important role in rallying our governments to ensure this occurs.

Read more: 5 periods of mass extinction on Earth. Are we entering the sixth?

We are losing biodiversity at record-breaking rates. The majesty of the natural world is disappearing and with it that which makes life worth living. We are also undermining the capacity of the Earth to sustain thriving human societies. We have the power to change this – but we need to act now.</s>Human activities have put a million species at risk of extinction, says UN global biodiversity report

Human activities have put as many as one million other species at risk of extinction, according to the first comprehensive United Nations report on global biodiversity. The report, a summary of which was released on Monday, emphasizes humanity’s devastating impact on the natural world, which is accelerating extinctions at an unprecedented rate in human history.

People have altered or destroyed three-quarters of land environments, two-thirds of marine habitats, and 85% of the most important wetland regions. This leaves few areas unaffected by human activities such as agriculture, commercial fishing, industrial pollution, and urbanization, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the environmental effect of these activities—human-driven climate change—has disrupted the habitats of 47% of flightless land mammals and 23% of threatened birds. Ecosystems that are particularly sensitive to warmer temperatures, such as coral reefs, could be virtually wiped out worldwide over the coming decades.

This ongoing extinction event is an obvious tragedy for the lush variety of life on Earth. But it is also an ominous trend for human civilization, which depends heavily on global biodiversity for sustenance and survival.

”The loss of species, ecosystems, and genetic diversity is already a global and generational threat to human well-being,” Sir Robert Watson, a leading atmospheric scientist who led the report, said in a statement.

“Protecting the invaluable contributions of nature to people will be the defining challenge of decades to come,” Watson added.

Produced by the UN’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the report exceeds 1,500 pages and compiles findings from 15,000 scientific and international government studies.

The full report will be released later this year. In the meantime, a summary of the conclusion was approved by representatives of 109 nations at an IPBES Plenary meeting that took place last week in Paris, France.

In addition to input from more than 450 researchers, the report incorporates valuable perspectives from Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

“Recognition of the knowledge, innovations and practices, institutions, and values of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their inclusion and participation in environmental governance often enhances their quality of life, as well as nature conservation, restoration, and sustainable use,” the summary said.

While the results of the report are harrowing, the IPBES team laid out possible solutions to mitigate the rapid loss of species and livelihoods worldwide, such as curbing greenhouse gas emissions, designing better waste disposal systems, and switching to more environmentally friendly diets.

“We have already seen the first stirrings of actions and initiatives for transformative change, such as innovative policies by many countries, local authorities, and businesses, but especially by young people worldwide,” said Watson.

Youth movements, such as the Extinction Rebellion or the recent school strikes protesting climate change inaction, have helped raise awareness of the colossal environmental problems caused by humans, and the threat they pose to future generations.</s>United Nations to offer first report on global biodiversity

Top scientists will tell the world Monday how bad off Mother Nature is.

The United Nations plans to issue its first comprehensive scientific report on biodiversity, looking hard at the threat of extinction for Earth's plant and animal species and what it means for humanity.

Report Chairman Robert Watson said last month that there are five major threats to biodiversity: the conversion of forests and grasslands into farms; overfishing of the oceans; climate change; and pollution and the spread of invasive species.

Watson said governments are beginning to take the issue seriously because if they cannot solve the intertwined threats of extinction and climate change, the world may end up hungrier and thirstier.

For the past week, scientists from around the globe have met in Paris to come up with an authoritative statement. The summary from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services must be unanimously approved by more than 100 nations.

When the meeting started, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay told negotiators that the report "will force us to face this dramatic degradation of biodiversity and to share this evidence with society as a whole."

Headline: UN report says nature is in worst shape in human history

Story summary: A new United Nations science report says nature is in trouble and 1 million species of plants and animals are at risk of going extinct. Scientists blame development that's led to loss of habitat, climate change, overfishing, pollution and invasive species. They say the biodiversity crisis is humanity's fault, but there's still time to save the Earth if governments, companies and individuals take action.

Scientists say nature is in more trouble now than at any time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals.

That's the key finding of the United Nations' first comprehensive report on biodiversity.

The report released Monday says species are being lost at a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past. More than half a million species on land lack sufficient habitat for long-term survival and are likely to go extinct, maybe within decades. The oceans are not any better off.

Researchers say the problem traces back to humanity, but it's not too late to fix it.

Conservation scientists from around the world convened in Paris to issue the report, which exceeded 1,000 pages.

Nature is in more trouble now than at any time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals, scientists said Monday in the United Nations' first comprehensive report on biodiversity.

It's all because of humans, but it's not too late to fix the problem, the report said.

Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, the report said. More than half a million species on land "have insufficient habitat for long-term survival" and are likely to go extinct, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored. The oceans are not any better off.

"Humanity unwittingly is attempting to throttle the living planet and humanity's own future," said George Mason University biologist Thomas Lovejoy, who has been called the godfather of biodiversity for his research. He was not part of the report.

"The biological diversity of this planet has been really hammered, and this is really our last chance to address all of that," Lovejoy said.

Conservation scientists from around the world convened in Paris to issue the report, which exceeded 1,000 pages. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) included more than 450 researchers who used 15,000 scientific and government reports. The report's summary had to be approved by representatives of all 109 nations.

Some nations hit harder by the losses, like small island countries, wanted more in the report. Others, such as the United States, were cautious in the language they sought, but they agreed "we're in trouble," said Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist for the World Wildlife Fund, who observed the final negotiations.

"This is the strongest call we've seen for reversing the trends on the loss of nature," Shaw said.

The findings are not just about saving plants and animals, but about preserving a world that's becoming harder for humans to live in, said Robert Watson, a former top NASA and British scientist who headed the report.

"We are indeed threatening the potential food security, water security, human health and social fabric" of humanity, Watson told The Associated Press. He said the poor in less developed countries bear the greatest burden.

The report's 39-page summary highlighted five ways people are reducing biodiversity:

— Turning forests, grasslands and other areas into farms, cities and other developments. The habitat loss leaves plants and animals homeless. About three-quarters of Earth's land, two-thirds of its oceans and 85% of crucial wetlands have been severely altered or lost, making it harder for species to survive, the report said.

— Overfishing the world's oceans. A third of the world's fish stocks are overfished.

— Permitting climate change from the burning of fossil fuels to make it too hot, wet or dry for some species to survive. Almost half of the world's land mammals — not including bats — and nearly a quarter of the birds have already had their habitats hit hard by global warming.

— Polluting land and water. Every year, 300 to 400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents and toxic sludge are dumped into the world's waters.

— Allowing invasive species to crowd out native plants and animals. The number of invasive alien species per country has risen 70% since 1970, with one species of bacteria threatening nearly 400 amphibian species.

Fighting climate change and saving species are equally important, the report said, and working on both environmental problems should go hand-in-hand. Both problems exacerbate each other because a warmer world means fewer species, and a less biodiverse world means fewer trees and plants to remove heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the air, Lovejoy said.

The world's coral reefs are a perfect example of where climate change and species loss intersect. If the world warms another 0.9 degrees (0.5 degrees Celsius), which other reports say is likely, coral reefs will probably dwindle by 70% to 90%, the report said. At 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius), the report said, 99% of the world's coral will be in trouble.

"Business as usual is a disaster," Watson said.

At least 680 species with backbones have already gone extinct since 1600. The report said 559 domesticated breeds of mammals used for food have disappeared. More than 40% of the world's amphibian species, more than one-third of the marine mammals and nearly one-third of sharks and fish are threatened with extinction.

The report relies heavily on research by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, which is composed of biologists who maintain a list of threatened species.

The IUCN calculated in March that 27,159 species are threatened, endangered or extinct in the wild out of nearly 100,000 species biologists examined in depth. That includes 1,223 mammal species, 1,492 bird species and 2,341 fish species. Nearly half the threatened species are plants.

Scientists have only examined a small fraction of the estimated 8 million species on Earth.

The report comes up with 1 million species in trouble by extrapolating the IUCN's 25% threatened rate to the rest of the world's species and using a lower rate for the estimated 5.5 million species of insects, Watson said.

Outside scientists, such as Lovejoy and others, said that's a reasonable assessment.

The report gives only a generic "within decades" time frame for species loss because it is dependent on many variables, including taking the problem seriously, which can reduce the severity of the projections, Watson said.

"We're in the middle of the sixth great extinction crisis, but it's happening in slow motion," said Conservation International and University of California Santa Barbara ecologist Lee Hannah, who was not part of the report.

The report was careful not to refer to a sixth mass extinction because its numbers do not come close to the 75% rate of past extinctions, Watson said.

The report goes beyond species. Of the 18 measured ways nature helps humans, the report said 14 are declining, with food and energy production noticeable exceptions. The report found downward trends in nature's ability to provide clean air and water, good soil and other essentials.

Habitat loss is one of the biggest threats, and it's happening worldwide, Watson said. The report projects 15.5 million miles (25 million kilometers) of new roads will be paved over nature between now and 2050, most in the developing world.

Many of the worst effects can be prevented by changing the way we grow food, produce energy, deal with climate change and dispose of waste, the report said. That involves concerted action by governments, companies and people.

Individuals can help with simple changes to the way they eat and use energy, said the co-chairman of the report, ecological scientist Josef Settele of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Germany. That doesn't mean becoming a vegetarian or vegan, but balancing meat, vegetables and fruit, and walking and biking more, Watson said.

"We can actually feed all the coming billions of people without destroying another inch of nature," Lovejoy said. Much of that can be done by eliminating food waste and being more efficient, he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.</s>Nature is in more trouble now than any time in human history Scientists say nature is in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals. That's the key finding of the United Nations' first comprehensive report on biodiversity. The actual report, covering close to 1,500 pages is the combined work of more than 450 researchers from around the world who used 15,000 scientific and government reports. The report's summary, called “Summary for Policy Makers,” had to be approved by representatives of all 109 member nations. The summary contains 40 pages. To put it bluntly, thanks to human pressures, one million plant and animal species may be pushed to extinction in the Up to a million species face extinction, many within decades, according to a draft UN report to be vetting in Paris this week “The evidence is crystal clear: Nature is in trouble. Therefore we are in trouble,” said Sandra Díaz, one of the co-chairs of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The report, the first in 15 years to provide a comprehensive view of the planet's diversity, also includes, for the first time, indigenous and local knowledge as well as scientific studies. There is overwhelming evidence that human activities are behind the decline of plant and animal species, says the report. Human activities that are major drivers of extinction include deforestation; overfishing; bushmeat hunting and poaching; climate change; pollution; and invasive alien species. Including insects, there are about 8.7 million different species of plants and animals on the Earth. About 41 percent of the world's amphibian species are threatened with extinction These species, all of them, make up our “life-supporting safety net” and provide our food, clean water, air, energy, and more said, Dias. “Not only is our safety net shrinking, but it’s also becoming more threadbare and holes are appearing.” Loss of species on land and in the oceans "Humanity unwittingly is attempting to throttle the living planet and humanity's own future," said George Mason University biologist Thomas Lovejoy, who has been called the godfather of biodiversity for his research, reports "The biological diversity of this planet has been really hammered, and this is really our last chance to address all of that," Lovejoy said. The United Nations said last year that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators -- particularly bees and butterflies -- risk global extinction The report says that species are being lost at a rate of tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past. Over half a million species on land lack sufficient habitats for long-term survival and are likely to go extinct, maybe within a few decades, and the oceans are not much better off. To be specific, human activity has severely altered over 75 percent of Earth’s land areas, while 66 percent of the oceans have suffered significant impacts, says the report. All in all, "grave impacts on people around the world are now likely," say the researchers, while adding that it's not too late to fix it. The new report paints “an ominous picture” of the health of ecosystems rapidly deteriorating, said Sir Robert Watson, Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which conducted the global assessment. Orangutan numbers and distribution have declined rapidly since the middle of the 20th century, due to human activities. These include hunting, unsustainable and often illegal logging, mining, and conversion of forests to agriculture. “We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide,” Watson said in a statement. “My biggest personal concern is the state of the oceans,” Watson told What do we value the most? What do you value the most? It is a material thing, like money or a home, can you imagine what a multinational corporation might value the most? This is one of the problems with humanity today. To put the report in perspective, to save our planet, society needs to shift from a sole focus on chasing economic growth, the summary report concludes. Instead of pouring more and more money into the exploitation of the world’s natural resources, these monies should be shifted to incentivize protection and restoration of nature—such as underwriting new reserves or reforestation programs, the report said. Wetlands are being lost three times faster than forests, and the impact on accelerating climate change could be devastating, the Ramsar Convention has warned Fighting climate change and saving species are equally important, the report said, and working on both environmental problems should go hand in hand. Both problems exacerbate each other because a warmer world means fewer species, and a less biodiverse world means fewer trees and plants to remove heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the air, Lovejoy said. Loss of biodiversity is therefore shown to be not only an environmental issue but also a developmental, economic, security, social and moral issue as well, states the report. This means that a loss of diversity will have an impact - in increased poverty, hunger, deteriorating health, water insecurity, our cities, the climate, oceans, and land. “Nature makes human development possible but our relentless demand for the earth’s resources is accelerating extinction rates and devastating the world’s ecosystems. UN Environment is proud to support the Global Assessment Report produced by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services because it highlights the critical need to integrate biodiversity considerations in global decision-making on any sector or challenge, whether it is water or agriculture, infrastructure or business," said Joyce Msuya, Acting Head, UN Environment. On May 6, 2019, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a summary of its first comprehensive report on biodiversity, and it paints an ominous picture of our rapidly deteriorating ecosystems.The actual report, covering close to 1,500 pages is the combined work of more than 450 researchers from around the world who used 15,000 scientific and government reports. The report's summary, called “Summary for Policy Makers,” had to be approved by representatives of all 109 member nations. The summary contains 40 pages.To put it bluntly, thanks to human pressures, one million plant and animal species may be pushed to extinction in the next few decades - leading to serious consequences for human beings as well as the rest of life on Earth.“The evidence is crystal clear: Nature is in trouble. Therefore we are in trouble,” said Sandra Díaz, one of the co-chairs of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.The report, the first in 15 years to provide a comprehensive view of the planet's diversity, also includes, for the first time, indigenous and local knowledge as well as scientific studies. There is overwhelming evidence that human activities are behind the decline of plant and animal species, says the report.Human activities that are major drivers of extinction include deforestation; overfishing; bushmeat hunting and poaching; climate change; pollution; and invasive alien species. Including insects, there are about 8.7 million different species of plants and animals on the Earth.These species, all of them, make up our “life-supporting safety net” and provide our food, clean water, air, energy, and more said, Dias. “Not only is our safety net shrinking, but it’s also becoming more threadbare and holes are appearing.”"Humanity unwittingly is attempting to throttle the living planet and humanity's own future," said George Mason University biologist Thomas Lovejoy, who has been called the godfather of biodiversity for his research, reports CBC Canada. He was not part of the report."The biological diversity of this planet has been really hammered, and this is really our last chance to address all of that," Lovejoy said.The report says that species are being lost at a rate of tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past. Over half a million species on land lack sufficient habitats for long-term survival and are likely to go extinct, maybe within a few decades, and the oceans are not much better off.To be specific, human activity has severely altered over 75 percent of Earth’s land areas, while 66 percent of the oceans have suffered significant impacts, says the report. All in all, "grave impacts on people around the world are now likely," say the researchers, while adding that it's not too late to fix it.The new report paints “an ominous picture” of the health of ecosystems rapidly deteriorating, said Sir Robert Watson, Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which conducted the global assessment.“We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide,” Watson said in a statement. “My biggest personal concern is the state of the oceans,” Watson told National Geographic . “Plastics, dead zones, overfishing, acidification... We’re really screwing up the oceans in a big way.”What do you value the most? It is a material thing, like money or a home, can you imagine what a multinational corporation might value the most? This is one of the problems with humanity today. To put the report in perspective, to save our planet, society needs to shift from a sole focus on chasing economic growth, the summary report concludes.Instead of pouring more and more money into the exploitation of the world’s natural resources, these monies should be shifted to incentivize protection and restoration of nature—such as underwriting new reserves or reforestation programs, the report said.Fighting climate change and saving species are equally important, the report said, and working on both environmental problems should go hand in hand. Both problems exacerbate each other because a warmer world means fewer species, and a less biodiverse world means fewer trees and plants to remove heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the air, Lovejoy said.Loss of biodiversity is therefore shown to be not only an environmental issue but also a developmental, economic, security, social and moral issue as well, states the report. This means that a loss of diversity will have an impact - in increased poverty, hunger, deteriorating health, water insecurity, our cities, the climate, oceans, and land.“Nature makes human development possible but our relentless demand for the earth’s resources is accelerating extinction rates and devastating the world’s ecosystems. UN Environment is proud to support the Global Assessment Report produced by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services because it highlights the critical need to integrate biodiversity considerations in global decision-making on any sector or challenge, whether it is water or agriculture, infrastructure or business," said Joyce Msuya, Acting Head, UN Environment.</s>(AP) — Nature is in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals, scientists said Monday in the United Nations’ first comprehensive report on biodiversity.

It’s all because of humans, but it’s not too late to fix the problem, the report said.

Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, the report said. More than half a million species on land “have insufficient habitat for long-term survival” and are likely to go extinct, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored. The oceans are not any better off.

“Humanity unwittingly is attempting to throttle the living planet and humanity’s own future,” said George Mason University biologist Thomas Lovejoy, who has been called the godfather of biodiversity for his research. He was involved in the report.

“The biological diversity of this planet has been really hammered, and this is really our last chance to address all of that,” Lovejoy said.

Conservation scientists from around the world convened in Paris to issue the report, which exceeded 1,000 pages. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) included more than 450 researchers who used 15,000 scientific and government reports. The report’s summary had to be approved by representatives of all 109 nations.

Some nations hit harder by the losses, such as small island countries, wanted more in the report. Others, such as the United States, were cautious in the language they sought, but agreed “we’re in trouble,” said Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist for the World Wildlife Fund, who observed the final negotiations.

“This is the strongest call we’ve seen for reversing the trends on the loss of nature,” Shaw said.

The findings are not just about saving plants and animals, but about preserving a world that’s becoming harder for humans to live in, said Robert Watson, a former top NASA and British scientist who headed the report.

“We are indeed threatening the potential food security, water security, human health and social fabric” of humanity, Watson told The Associated Press. He said poor people in less developed countries bear the greatest burden.

The report’s 39-page summary highlighted five ways people are reducing biodiversity:

— Turning forests, grasslands and other areas into farms, cities and other developments. The habitat loss leaves plants and animals homeless. About three-quarters of Earth’s land, two-thirds of its oceans and 85% of crucial wetlands have been severely altered or lost, making it harder for species to survive, the report said.

— Overfishing the world’s oceans. One-third of the world’s fish stocks are overfished.

— Permitting climate change from burning of fossil fuels to make it too hot, wet or dry for some species to survive. Almost half of the world’s land mammals — not including bats — and nearly a quarter of the birds have already had their habitats hit hard by global warming.

— Polluting land and water. Every year, 300 to 400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents and toxic sludge are dumped into the world’s waters.

— Allowing invasive species to crowd out native plants and animals. The number of invasive alien species per country has risen by 70% since 1970, with a single species of bacteria threatening nearly 400 amphibian species.

Fighting climate change and saving species are equally important, the report said, and working on both environmental problems should go hand in hand. Both problems exacerbate each other because a warmer world means fewer species, and a less biodiverse world means fewer trees and plants to remove heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the air, Lovejoy said.

The world’s coral reefs are a perfect example of where climate change and species loss intersect. If the world warms another 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius), which other reports say is likely, coral reefs will probably dwindle by 70% to 90%, the report said. At 1.8 degrees F (1 degree Centigrade), the report said, 99% of the world’s coral will be in trouble.

“Business as usual is a disaster,” Watson said.

At least 680 species with backbones have gone extinct since 1600. The report said 559 domesticated breeds of mammals used for food have disappeared. More than 40% of the world’s amphibian species, more than one-third of the marine mammals and nearly one-third of sharks and fish are threatened with extinction.

The report relies heavily on research by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, which is composed of biologists who maintain a list of threatened species.

The IUCN calculated in March that 27,159 species are threatened, endangered or extinct in the wild out of nearly 100,000 species biologists examined in depth. That includes 1,223 mammal species, 1,492 bird species and 2,341 fish species. Nearly half the threatened species are plants.

Scientists have examined only a small fraction of the estimated 8 million species on Earth.

The report comes up with 1 million species in trouble by extrapolating the IUCN’s 25% threatened rate to the rest of the world’s species and using a lower rate for the estimated 5.5 million species of insects, Watson said.

Outside scientists, such as Lovejoy and others, said that’s a reasonable assessment.

The report gives only a generic “within decades” timeframe for species loss because it is dependent on many variables, including taking the problem seriously, which can reduce the severity of the projections, Watson said.

“We’re in the middle of the sixth great extinction crisis, but it’s happening in slow motion,” said Conservation International and University of California Santa Barbara ecologist Lee Hannah, who was not involved in the report.

Five times in the past, Earth has undergone mass extinctions where much of life on Earth blinked out, like the one that killed the dinosaurs. Watson said the report was careful not to call what’s going on now a sixth big die-off because current levels don’t come close to the 75% level in past mass extinctions.

The report goes beyond species. Of the 18 measured ways nature helps humans, the report said 14 are declining, with food and energy production noticeable exceptions. The report found downward trends in nature’s ability to provide clean air and water, good soil and other essentials.

Habitat loss is one of the biggest threats, and it’s happening worldwide, Watson said. The report projects 15.5 million miles of new roads will be paved over nature between now and 2050, most in the developing world.

Many of the worst effects can be prevented by changing the way we grow food, produce energy, deal with climate change and dispose of waste, the report said. That involves concerted action by governments, companies and people.

Individuals can help with simple changes to the way they eat and use energy, said the co-chairman of the report, ecological scientist Josef Settele of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Germany. That doesn’t mean becoming a vegetarian or vegan, but balancing meat, vegetables and fruit, and walking and biking more, Watson said.

“We can actually feed all the coming billions of people without destroying another inch of nature,” Lovejoy said. Much of that can be done by eliminating food waste and being more efficient, he said.</s>Experts from around the world have spent the past week at Unesco's headquarters, teaming up with governments from 130 countries to hammer out what's billed as the most comprehensive biodiversity assessment in history – and to hatch a plan to save nature.

The report, by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity Ecosystem Services (IPBES), tells us that nature is in dangerous decline, with ecosystems, species – both wild and domestic, plant and animal – shrinking, deteriorating or vanishing altogether.

We're warned that humans are responsible for the very catastrophe that is threatening the human way of life. Changes in land and sea use are identified as the biggest drivers of biodiversity losses, followed by the direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution and, lastly, invasive alien species.

Part of the problem is that governments usually prioritise action on climate change and – when it comes to protecting biodiversity – governments think they're doing more than they actually are,” the report's lead author, Paul Leadley, told RFI.

“Governments have vastly increased protected areas, both in marine and terrestrial systems,” he says. “What they don't realise is that we're fighting against such strong drivers of change – such as land use change, destructions of habitat and overfishing etc – that those measures just simply aren't enough.”

Eighty percent of the UN sustainable development goals and other biodiversity targets have been compromised because of the deterioration of nature. The greatest impacts will be felt by the poorest and most vulnerable, says Unesco secretary general Audrey Azoulay – those at the frontlines of a what experts warn is a threat to the world's peace and security.

“The erosion of the world's biodiversity reminds us of the importance of solidarity and the need for international cooperation,” Azoulay added, telling us that 2020 will be a strategic year.

The IPBES assessment marks the first time governments have gotten together to tackle what is globally accepted is a biodiversity emergency. It represents three years of collaboration by hundreds of experts from dozens of countries – scientists informing policymaking – and the message is clear.

The smartest brains from all domains of science say it's not too late to correct massive biodiversity losses, but it can only be done through “transformative change” – a sweeping overhaul of the way humans produce and consume almost everything, especially food.

It's essentially a reboot of society, Leadley says, an overhaul of all sectors from agriculture, fishing, mining, energy, finance. And the good news is that in some of those areas transformative change is already happening.

“What we're saying is there's no silver bullet – we can't just make more protected areas and all of a sudden things will be better,” Leadley says. “We need much more fundamental changes to the way we produce and consume, changes to the way we're governed, changes to the way our economy functions, changes to the way trade functions – so really systemic changes.”

But for that to continue to happen – and for it to make a difference for the future of humanity – the report is urging a stronger and more sustained political commitment.

“Waste is undermining nature's ability to regenerate, with more food, energy and raw materials being produced than ever before,” said outgoing IPBES chair, Robert Watson, adding that it isn't simply an environmental issue. “It's a developmental issue, an economic issue, a social issue and also an ethical issue.”

Nature managed by indigenous peoples – which represents at least a quarter of the global land area – is declining less rapidly than land elsewhere. The rest of the world is now drawing lessons from indigenous communities who, for the first time, are informing the way biodiversity is managed on a global level.

“Indigenous peoples are really important for helping to protect nature, and we need to include them in the dialogue a lot more – and to take into account the fact they're doing a good job in protecting nature,” Leadley says.

“In many cases, they don't really distinguish themselves from nature – they are a part of it, and I think we have a lot to learn from that.”

While the report offers up “actions for sustainability” and lays out options for decision-makers in sectors across the board, the scientists stop short of telling governments what to do. Instead, those in charge of policy are informed of the consequences of their potential decisions.

In the words of Unesco’s Azoulay: “After this week, no one will be able to say they didn’t know about the biodiversity crisis.”
The United Nations Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services reports that, due to human activity, the Earth's biodiversity has suffered a catastrophic decline that is unprecedented in human history.