IPBES to launch 1st global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services since 2005

19 November 2018
Story

In May 2019, representatives of 130 governments will be presented, for discussion and possible approval, with a definitive new global synthesis of the state of nature, ecosystems and nature’s contributions to people – the first such report since the landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was published in 2005, and the first ever that is intergovernmental.

Prepared by150 leading international experts from 50 countries working with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services will inform better policies and actions in the coming decade. The report will be finalized and considered at the seventh session of the IPBES Plenary on 29 April – 4 May 2019).

The report will offer an integrated overview of where the world stands in relation to key international goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Paris Agreement on climate change. It examines causes of biodiversity and ecosystem change, the implications for people, policy options and likely future pathways over the next three decades if current trends continue, and other scenarios.

In the words of Sir Robert Watson, IPBES Chair, “the loss of species, ecosystems and genetic diversity is already a global and generational threat to human well-being. Protecting the invaluable contributions of nature to people will be the defining challenge of decades to come. Policies, efforts and actions – at every level - will only succeed, however, when based on the best knowledge and evidence. This is what the IPBES Global Assessment provides.”