Scope for redemption

Two recent reports underline the need for different strategies for a more sustainable world

- VIBHA VARSHNEY

SOME THREE decades ago, at the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, the world agreed on the links between climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss, and resolved to protect nature. Still, the planet has continued to lose an estimated 2-6 per cent of its biodiversity every decade.

The Intergovernmental SciencePolicy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a Bonnbased intergovernmental body that assesses the state of the planet's biodiversity and ecosystems, has looked for solutions to arrest this loss of biodiversity for the past three years. In this period, more than 250 experts have looked at hundreds of research papers, unpublished data and case studies to prepare two reports "Nexus Assessment" and "Transformative Change Assessment". The reports were discussed and agreed upon at the 11th plenary of IPBES held in December 2024 in Namibia. Only the summaries of the report are available so far and the final reports are expected later in 2025.

The "Nexus Assessment" report is a "thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health". The report, for the first time, identifies and evaluates five nexus elementsbiodiversity, water, food, health and climate and provides solutions and policy options to optimise co-benefits across different environmental crises. The "Transformative Change Assessment" report is a "thematic assessment of the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, determinants of transformative change and options for achieving the 2050 vision for biodiversity" which seeks to "live in harmony with nature". It details the reorganisation needed in technology, economics and society to achieve a just, sustainable world.