Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

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The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services , informally also Global Report of the World Biodiversity Council , is a report on the global state of biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (" Ecosystem Services ") adopted in May 2019 by the seventh plenary session of the World Council on Biodiversity . Analogous to the climate report published in 2014 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , the report is intended to provide a scientific basis for decision-making for actors in politics and society.

Objective and scope

The Global Assessment Report assesses the changes in biodiversity that have occurred over the past fifty years at a global level . He paints a comprehensive picture of the economic development and its effects on nature for this period. It is a three-year joint effort by almost 150 specialist authors from 50 countries, who were supported by around 310 other authors with contributions. The Global Assessment Report comprises around 1700 pages and is the result of the evaluation of more than 15,000 scientific publications and government documents. The specialists involved in its creation are predominantly natural scientists, a third were social scientists and a further ten percent are interdisciplinary.

The report presented is the first report on the global state of biodiversity since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published on behalf of the United Nations in 2005 . In addition to the diversity of species and habitats, genetic diversity was also recorded for the first time. The aim of the report is to make policy-relevant knowledge about biological diversity on earth and its services available to the actors in politics and society.

central message

40 percent of the amphibians , almost a third of the reef-building corals and more than a third of the marine mammals are threatened with extinction. There is uncertainty with the insects, no number of threatened species can be named, although that would be important. Estimates assume ten percent of threatened species for this class . At least 680 vertebrate species have been extinct since the 16th century . By 2016, more than nine percent of farm animal breeds had become extinct among mammals , and another 1,000 breeds are threatened with extinction. Among the plants, more than 60 percent of cycads and a third of conifers are threatened with extinction. For more than 500,000 species, the authors coined the term `` dead species walking '' (German roughly: doomed species on their last walk , based on the US film drama Dead Man Walking ) for species that are not yet extinct, but which have changed due to changes or the downsizing of their habitats have no chance of survival in the long term.

In the opinion of the report's authors, the threat to biodiversity is undoubtedly man-made. The main cause is the human space requirement, which deprives other species of their habitat. Over the past 50 years, the loss of space has accelerated dramatically. For agriculture, for example, forests were cleared to create cattle pastures in South America and plantations for oil palms in Southeast Asia. Added to this is the land requirement for human settlements, which has doubled worldwide since 1992.

The overfishing is the main reason for the loss of species in the oceans . The marine areas fished by humans are increasing and fishing is being carried out at ever greater depths . A large number of species are caught faster than they can reproduce. In 2015, a third of the usable fish species were overfished, with eels , shellfish , dogfish and all other shark species and rays particularly affected .

Further statements:

  • 85 percent of the wetlands have been destroyed
  • The coral reef population has halved since the 19th century
  • Between 1980 and 2000, 100 million hectares of tropical rainforest were cleared - another 32 million hectares between 2010 and 2015
  • 23 percent of the planet's land area is ecologically run down and can no longer be used
  • Pollinator insect loss threatens food production valued at $ 235 billion to $ 577 billion annually
  • 300–400 million tons of waste end up in the world's waters every year. The state of the water has changed by approx. 60% since industrialization .
  • Since the beginning of industrialization, humanity has changed 75% of the existing land area.
  • The destruction of coastal areas such as mangrove forests is endangering the livelihoods of up to 300 million people
  • 82% decrease in global wild mammal biomass . Now 96% of the mammalian biomass comes from humans and their livestock
  • The loss of species is currently up to a hundred times faster than the average during the last ten million years ( Cenozoic , Earth New Age)

Species protection and climate protection

Species decline is not shown in isolation in the report, but rather in connection with climate change . Both phenomena are existential threats, but species protection and climate protection are often viewed as incompatible. The cultivation of rapeseed and maize, for example, as sources of energy, helps to reduce CO₂ emissions, but the large amount of land used is a threat to biodiversity. The World Biodiversity Council and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change want to work together more closely in the future and promote alternatives.

Perspectives

The report is intended to help evaluate the status of requirements such as the Aichi targets for the protection of biodiversity or the climate targets of the Kyoto Protocol . According to the report's authors, "it is likely that most of the Aichi biodiversity targets for 2020 will not be met". In retrospect, the successes on goals such as halving habitat loss or ending overfishing have been described as "poor". In contrast, the authors praise the success in designating nature reserves and in combating invasive species .

The report found that “material ecosystem services” (such as energy, food and feed), “cultural ecosystem services” (such as education, inspiration) and “regulating ecosystem services” (such as climate regulation, water quality) partly improved and partly worsened. The decline in some ecosystem services threatens people's quality of life, which may result in a. Can exacerbate inequalities in access to health care and healthy eating. Most ecosystem services are not completely replaceable or even irreplaceable; their loss is associated with high follow-up costs. The report also highlighted the effects of human activity on land, freshwater and marine ecosystems. When setting future goals for protecting nature and achieving sustainability, climate change, adaptation measures and the possible consequences for biodiversity should be taken into account. In order to be able to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2050 vision for biodiversity, fundamental transformations are necessary - for example in relation to spatial planning, integrated water and coastal management, marine spatial planning, bioregional energy planning and new urban development models. The authors propose a wide range of measures, including sustainable farming practices, incentives to reduce consumption and waste, effective fishing quotas, and collaborative water management. A global financial and economic system that leads away from the “limited paradigm” of economic growth is necessary for sustainable development.

In an outlook for the future, the authors affirm that an improvement in the situation is possible by 2030. For example, by abolishing environmentally harmful subsidies . On the other hand, the continuation of the previous misconduct will exacerbate the situation to the point of ecological collapse. The report provides several possible scenarios for the future development of global biodiversity.

The publication of the Global Assessment Report on May 6, 2019 met with worldwide media coverage. The statement emphasized that one million out of eight million known animal and plant species are threatened with extinction due to anthropogenic causes .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Ed.): IPBES Global Assessment Preview , IPBES website, accessed on May 6, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c Stephanie Kusma: Concentrated knowledge on biological diversity on earth: The first global report of the World Biodiversity Council appears today , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 6, 2019, accessed on May 6, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Tina Baier: Man displaces one million animal and plant species , Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 6, 2019, accessed on May 6, 2019.
  4. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE: That is why species extinction is more threatening than climate change. Retrieved May 6, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Christian Schwägerl : Dramatic UN report: One million species threatened with extinction . In: Spiegel Online . May 6, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed May 6, 2019]).
  6. ↑ a b The "Global Assessment" of the World Biodiversity Council IPBES. In: Excerpts from the “Summary for Policymakers” (SPM). Hermann von Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, May 6, 2019, accessed on February 4, 2020 .
  7. ↑ The massive loss of biodiversity is as threatening for humans as climate change. In: focus.de. May 6, 2019, accessed February 4, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Translation and shortening of the report in the form of a fact sheet (German) - Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ (see web links)