Climate crisis, loss of biodiversity affecting human life in tandem

Declining biodiversity and climate change are interlinked and they create compounding impacts that threaten human health and well-being, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

- Jayashree Nandi

The report highlighted that different crises are affected by the same underlying socioeconomic trends, including growth in GDP, waste and overconsumption. These factors cause changes in land and sea use, pollution, invasive alien species and unsustainable resource extraction, making it impossible to address these challenges in isolation.

Environmental governance remains fragmented, resulting in conflicting objectives and inefficient resource use, the report noted. These factors create cascading impacts across various issues, such as increasing affluence driving higher food demand, leading to more land use change for agriculture and unsustainable farming practices.