The world\u2019s leading scientists will warn the planet\u2019s life-support systems are approaching a danger zone for humanity when they release the results of the most comprehensive study of life on Earth ever undertaken.<\/p>\n
Up to 1m species are at risk of annihilation, many within decades, according to a leaked draft of the global assessment report, which has been compiled over three years by the UN\u2019s leading research body on nature.<\/p>\n
The 1,800-page study will show people living today, as well as wildlife and future generations, are at risk unless urgent action is taken to reverse the loss of plants, insects and other creatures on which\u00a0humanity depends\u00a0for\u00a0food,\u00a0pollination, clean water and a stable climate.<\/p>\n
The final wording of the summary for policymakers is being finalised in Paris by a gathering of experts and government representatives before the launch on Monday, but the overall message is already clear, according to Robert Watson, the chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no question we are losing biodiversity at a truly unsustainable rate that will affect human wellbeing both for current and future generations,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are in trouble if we don\u2019t act, but there are a range of actions that can be taken to protect nature and meet human goals for health and development.\u201d<\/p>\n
The authors hope the first global assessment of biodiversity in almost 15 years will push the nature crisis into the global spotlight in the same way climate breakdown has surged up the political agenda since the\u00a01.5C report\u00a0last year by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.<\/p>\n
Like its predecessor, the report is a\u00a0compilation\u00a0of reams of academic studies, in this case on subjects ranging from ocean plankton and subterranean bacteria to honey bees and Amazonian botany. Following previous findings on the\u00a0decimation\u00a0of wildlife, the overview of the state of the world\u2019s nature is expected to provide evidence that the world is facing a\u00a0sixth wave\u00a0of extinction. Unlike the past five, this one is human-driven.<\/p>\n
Mike Barrett, WWF\u2019s executive director of conservation and science, said: \u201cAll of our ecosystems are in trouble. This is the most comprehensive report on the state of the environment. It irrefutably confirms that nature is in steep decline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barrett said this posed an environmental emergency for humanity, which is threatened by a triple challenge of climate, nature and food production. \u201cThere is no time to despair,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should be hopeful that we have a window of opportunity to do something about it over these two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report will sketch out possible future scenarios that will vary depending on the decisions taken by governments, businesses and individuals. The next year and a half is likely to be crucial because world leaders will agree rescue plans for\u00a0nature\u00a0and the climate at two big conferences at the end of 2020.<\/p>\n
That is when China will host the UN framework convention on\u00a0biodiversity\u00a0gathering in Kunming, which will establish new 20-year targets to replace\u00a0those agreed\u00a0in Aichi, Japan, in 2010. Soon after, the UN framework convention on climate change will revise Paris agreement commitments at a meeting in either the UK, Italy, Belgium or Turkey.<\/p>\n
Watson, a British professor who has headed both of the UN\u2019s leading scientific panels, said the forthcoming report will delve more deeply than anything before into the causes of nature collapse, chief among which is the conversion of forests, wetlands and other wild landscapes into ploughed fields, dam reservoirs and concrete cities. Three-quarters of the world\u2019s land surface has been severely altered, according to the leaked draft. Humanity is also decimating the living systems on which we depend by emitting carbon dioxide and spreading invasive species.<\/p>\n
Watson said the authors have learned from attribution science, which has transformed the debate on the climate crisis by showing how much more likely hurricanes, droughts and floods have become as a result of global heating.<\/p>\n
The goal is to persuade an audience beyond the usual green NGOs and government departments. \u201cWe need to appeal not just to environment ministers, but to those in charge of agriculture, transport and energy because they are the ones responsible for the drivers of biodiversity loss,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A focus will be to move away from protection of individual species and areas, and to look at systemic drivers of change, including consumption and trade.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0political environment\u00a0is changing in some countries due to overwhelming scientific evidence and increasing public concern about the twin crises of nature and climate, which have prompted more than 1 million students to\u00a0strike from school\u00a0and led to street protests by Extinction Rebellion activists in more than a\u00a0dozen countries.<\/p>\n
The UK parliament declared a\u00a0climate emergency\u00a0this week and the government\u2019s chief climate advisory body\u00a0recommended\u00a0an accelerated plan to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050. Until now, however, the nature crisis has been treated as far less of a priority. \u201cWhere are the headlines? Where are the emergency meetings?\u201d asked the school strike founder, Greta Thunberg, in a\u00a0recent tweet\u00a0on the subject.<\/p>\n
Extinction Rebellion activists said protests that\u00a0blocked\u00a0several London streets last month were as much aimed at the defence of nature as stabilising the climate. \u201cThey are two sides of the same destructive coin,\u201d said Farhana Yamin, a coordinator of the movement who is also an environmental lawyer and formerly a lead author of the IPCC report.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work of IPBES is as crucial as the work done by the IPCC on the 1.5-degree report. That is why Extinction Rebellion is demanding an end [to] biodiversity loss and a net-zero phaseout by 2020. We can\u2019t save humanity by only tackling climate change or only caring about biodiversity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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