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IPBES special report

Development and life in general under threat from accelerating destruction of nature – but solutions are possible

Yesterday the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published its first global report on biodiversity since 2005, which confirms that nature is being destroyed faster than at any other time in human history. The report on the global state of biodiversity is shocking but not entirely surprising.

"Radical, comprehensive changes are urgently needed to save the diversity of life on which we all depend. Crucially, governments must end the destructive subsidies, including for fossil fuels and industrial fishing and agriculture," said IIED director Andrew Norton.

Despite years of repeated warnings, the question is, how much more evidence will it take for governments, companies and financial institutions to wake up to the urgency and act?

Read IIED's response to the IPBES report.

News broadcast

Wildlife across the world declining at ‘unprecedented’ rate, UN warns

IIED Principal researcher Dilys Roe discussed the implications of IPBES report on the UK's Channel 4 news.

Watch the report now.

"The time is urgent for the poorest people in the poorest countries, who will be particularly hit by the devastation of nature"

– Dilys Roe

Briefing paper

Biodiversity loss, development crisis?

Biodiversity loss threatens to undermine hard-won development gains, including in health, resilience, food security and GDP earnings. Poor people are particularly dependent on biodiversity — both to meet day-to-day livelihood needs and to enhance resilience to climate change and other threats. So they are hardest hit by its loss, especially when coupled with climate change. It is time for the development community to step up to this challenge and engage in the debate.

Download the briefing now.

Issue paper, 24 pages

Biodiversity loss is a development issue. A rapid review of the evidence

The global biodiversity crisis is hitting the poorest communities first and hardest, because they can ill-afford to ‘buy in’ biodiversity’s previously-free goods and services).

So why does the development community often ignore biodiversity loss? This paper unpicks misunderstandings and sets out the evidence that biodiversity loss is much more than an environmental problem – it is an urgent development challenge.