Global Biodiversity Outlook 5

Description

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and the pressures driving this decline are intensifying. None of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets will be fully met, in turn threatening the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and undermining efforts to address climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of the relationship between people and nature, and it reminds the profound consequences to well-being and survival that can result from continued biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems.

This report presents some examples of progress which, if scaled up, could support the transformative changes necessary to achieve the 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature. A number of transitions pointing the way to the type of changes required are already in evidence, albeit in limited areas of activity. The report examines how such transitions can be replicated and built on. Options are available to the global community that could simultaneously halt and ultimately reverse biodiversity loss, limit climate change and improve the capacity to adapt to it and meet other goals such as improved food security. This mix of actions includes greatly stepping up efforts to conserve and restore biodiversity, addressing climate change in ways that limit global temperature rise without imposing unintended additional pressures on biodiversity, and transforming the way in which we produce, consume and trade goods and services, most particularly food, that rely on and have an impact on biodiversity.

Progresses in reaching the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the implementation of the Strategic Plano for Biodiversity 2011-2020 are also reported. The report also highlights that solutions are needed to seek an integrated approach that simultaneously address the conservation of the planet’s genetic diversity, species and ecosystems, the capacity of nature to deliver material benefits to human societies, and the less tangible but highly-valued connections with nature that help to define our identities, cultures and beliefs.

A summary for policy makers is also included in the report.

Reference information