What is the key takeaway from the IPBES’s Nexus Assessment?
The report considers the relationships between five “nexus” elements—biodiversity, water, climate change, food and health—and provides an overview of how these have changed over the past 50 years and what we can do better in the future. One example is the link between climate change and biodiversity loss. Measures that merely serve to cut emissions while depleting biodiversity, such as the excessive use of biomass to produce energy, are not sustainable solutions.
How do we make things better?
There are various ways to leverage synergy effects, e.g. through nature-based solutions that protect biodiversity while also helping to combat climate change and its consequences. In the Nexus Assessment, we calculated that our failure to harness synergy effects is costing us between $10 trillion and $25 trillion a year. That’s about 25 percent of global GDP. If we want to act in the spirit of the nexus, we should focus on cutting these costs.
What part did you play?
The report has a total of seven chapters, and I was lead author for numbers 2 and 7. The summary version of the report, which is intended for policymakers, has now been signed off. The full report will be published later this year.
What content did you cover?
Chapter 2 mainly covers the trends that the nexus elements have undergone in the past 50 years. It shows how severely biodiversity has declined and the climate has changed, how water is becoming increasingly scarce, some health problems have grown much worse and people all over the world are still at risk of going hungry. These crises are being fueled by a number of direct drivers, including the overexploitation of farmland, deforestation, pollution of the air, soil and environment, climate change, and invasive species. And these in turn are the result of several indirect drivers such as economic growth, rising consumption, war and much more.
And Chapter 7?
This is partly about summarizing options for decision-makers and identifying the gaps in our knowledge. We also assessed the suitability of the current policy approaches and master plans, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, for integrating the various nexus elements and proposing improvements.
What’s the best way to curb species decline?
In the report, we make it clear that the different nexus elements all influence one another. Decisions designed to protect biodiversity, for example, will lead to conflict if they fail to account for the potential impact on food production. In exactly the same way, however, measures intended to ramp up food production only make sense if their effect on biodiversity, the climate and water and their long-term consequences for human health are taken into consideration too.
Where do we need to act?
Although there’s a wide range of studies as well as policy documents that back this approach, nothing is actually being done. What’s more, decisions are all too often made just for individual sectors. In the report, we stress that protecting biodiversity often has multiple positive effects on other nexus elements and can bring about lasting improvements in them. However, this also means that decisions made with regard to other nexus elements can’t be allowed to shut biodiversity out. This applies to the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss as well, such as consumer behavior.
Would you be able to provide an example to explain that?
It means that we should always scrutinize measures to see how they’ll influence different nexus elements. For instance, if you imagine that a law is going to be passed to boost the economy by encouraging consumption, then we’re going to need more resources and more energy in order to produce the goods required. This will lead to more deforestation and accelerate climate change.
What do you see as the biggest challenge on the path to change?
The fact that people find it very hard to change their habits, ideals and familiar systems. As well as requiring each and every one of us to adapt our behavior, the sustainability transformation also needs us to adopt a new way of doing business and redefine what we mean by a “good life.” If we define success as driving ever-bigger cars, for example, or living in bigger houses, or always going on long-haul holidays, without thinking about the consequences, then we won’t be able to solve the crises.
How confident are you that the goals are going to be achieved?
I don’t think we’re going to meet the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Although we’ve definitely made progress toward some of them, others—especially those about protecting biodiversity—are unfortunately even further off than they used to be. I’m also skeptical about our ability to meet the 2030 targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity, although that’s mainly because of the tight timeframe. Overall, I am actually cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to hit the targets in the long term. However, that’s chiefly because we’re already feeling the effects to a major degree, and things are only going to get more intense. After all, it’s up to us as the human race to make a change. My hope is that, at some point, the political and societal pressure will get so great that we’re left with no other choice but to change our society. My hope is that, when that point does come, it won’t be too late.
What are you yourself doing to help bring about this change?
As a researcher who spends much of her time studying sustainability issues and often travels to other countries, I often face the challenge of how to live and work in a way that’s still sustainable but also still makes logical sense. For example, I always take the train wherever possible when I’m traveling within Europe. My diet is also more or less exclusively vegetarian, and I’ve made our garden nature-friendly. In addition, I lend my time to Scientists for Future, for example, and serve as co-chairperson of BION, the biodiversity network for the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg region. However, I’m aware there are many other ways I could get even more involved.
For information on the IPBES report, see:
