<p>Bengaluru: In a first of its report providing scientific assessment of the interlinkages of biodiversity, food, water, health and climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has cautioned that the current fragmented governance without justice and equity will exacerbate the multiple crises and lead to higher costs of restoration.</p><p>The latest report brings focus on the interlinkages between five elements: biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change. Dubbed as the most ambitious of the IPBES reports yet, it seeks to address the complex and interconnected character of crises and challenges in the five interconnected sectors.</p><p>The report, a product of three-year of work, was approved on Monday by the 11th session of the IPBES Plenary composed of 147 members of IPBES, including India. As many as 165 international experts from all regions of the world looked into 186 scenarios from 52 separate studies which project interactions between three or more nexus elements for periods up to 2050 and 2100.</p><p>Noting that More than half of the global GDP ($58 trillion of economic activity in 2023) was dependent on nature, it said the existing policies and international agreements have not been able to check the impacts of economic pressures on the five nexus elements. "For example, negative externalities (costs not considered as part of decision-making processes) across the fossil fuel, agriculture and fisheries sectors are currently estimated in the range of $10–25 trillion per year, reflecting the negative impacts of production and consumption in these sectors on biodiversity, climate change, water and health," it said.</p>.New data from ‘the last ice area’ may help long-term conservation efforts in Arctic.<p>Stressing the role of biodiversity in reaching the sustainable development goals, the report said the current fragmented and siloed approach in policies has led to prioritisation of short term outcomes that benefit a few.</p><p>For instance, the approach that prioritises food may improve the food and health sector moderately in the short term but will have a negative impact on biodiversity, water and climate which will erode such benefits in the long term. Even a 'climate first' approach will have a negative impact if biodiversity, water and food are not included in the matrix.</p><p>The report suggested member countries adopt 'nexus approach' where policies are nature oriented and balanced in such a way which promise positive outcomes for all the five elements.</p><p>Such measures, besides requiring immediate actions against illegal extraction of natural resources valued at $100-300 billion per year, also need changes in several policies that incentivise activities damaging biodiversity. For instance, economic activities that cause direct damage to nature are estimated at $5.3 trillion per year.</p><p>Stressing the need to align the policies in a nature-oriented and 'balanced nexus' approach to avoid negative outcomes for all the nexus elements, the report suggested more than 70 response options with multiple co-benefits. Countries can tailor these responses according to their contexts.</p><p>Prof Paula Harrison, co-chair of the Assessment with Prof Pamela McElwee, noted the need to move away from a fragmented approach. "Take for example the health challenge of schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) – a parasitic disease that can cause life-long ill health and which affects more than 200 million people worldwide – especially in Africa. Treated only as a health challenge – usually through medication – the problem often recurs as people are reinfected. An innovative project in rural Senegal took a different approach – reducing water pollution and removing invasive water plants to reduce the habitat for the snails that host the parasitic worms that carry the disease – resulting in a 32 per cent reduction in infections in children, improved access to freshwater and new revenue for the local communities.”</p><p>The IPBES, however, does not have a mechanism to review how the member countries, including India, adopt the solutions and change their policies. To a question, however, Anne Larigauderie from IPBES secretariat said a review of sorts would be possible when countries consider the implication of the nexus assessment and report on the issues to the Convention on Biological Diversity.</p><p>Prof Pamela McElwee said for biodiversity alone, inaction will mean the cost of restoration will double within 10 years. Delayed action on biodiversity goals, for example, could as much as double costs – also increasing the probability of irreplaceable losses such as species extinctions. Delayed action on climate change adds at least $500 billion per year in additional costs for meeting policy targets, she said.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: In a first of its report providing scientific assessment of the interlinkages of biodiversity, food, water, health and climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has cautioned that the current fragmented governance without justice and equity will exacerbate the multiple crises and lead to higher costs of restoration.</p><p>The latest report brings focus on the interlinkages between five elements: biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change. Dubbed as the most ambitious of the IPBES reports yet, it seeks to address the complex and interconnected character of crises and challenges in the five interconnected sectors.</p><p>The report, a product of three-year of work, was approved on Monday by the 11th session of the IPBES Plenary composed of 147 members of IPBES, including India. As many as 165 international experts from all regions of the world looked into 186 scenarios from 52 separate studies which project interactions between three or more nexus elements for periods up to 2050 and 2100.</p><p>Noting that More than half of the global GDP ($58 trillion of economic activity in 2023) was dependent on nature, it said the existing policies and international agreements have not been able to check the impacts of economic pressures on the five nexus elements. "For example, negative externalities (costs not considered as part of decision-making processes) across the fossil fuel, agriculture and fisheries sectors are currently estimated in the range of $10–25 trillion per year, reflecting the negative impacts of production and consumption in these sectors on biodiversity, climate change, water and health," it said.</p>.New data from ‘the last ice area’ may help long-term conservation efforts in Arctic.<p>Stressing the role of biodiversity in reaching the sustainable development goals, the report said the current fragmented and siloed approach in policies has led to prioritisation of short term outcomes that benefit a few.</p><p>For instance, the approach that prioritises food may improve the food and health sector moderately in the short term but will have a negative impact on biodiversity, water and climate which will erode such benefits in the long term. Even a 'climate first' approach will have a negative impact if biodiversity, water and food are not included in the matrix.</p><p>The report suggested member countries adopt 'nexus approach' where policies are nature oriented and balanced in such a way which promise positive outcomes for all the five elements.</p><p>Such measures, besides requiring immediate actions against illegal extraction of natural resources valued at $100-300 billion per year, also need changes in several policies that incentivise activities damaging biodiversity. For instance, economic activities that cause direct damage to nature are estimated at $5.3 trillion per year.</p><p>Stressing the need to align the policies in a nature-oriented and 'balanced nexus' approach to avoid negative outcomes for all the nexus elements, the report suggested more than 70 response options with multiple co-benefits. Countries can tailor these responses according to their contexts.</p><p>Prof Paula Harrison, co-chair of the Assessment with Prof Pamela McElwee, noted the need to move away from a fragmented approach. "Take for example the health challenge of schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) – a parasitic disease that can cause life-long ill health and which affects more than 200 million people worldwide – especially in Africa. Treated only as a health challenge – usually through medication – the problem often recurs as people are reinfected. An innovative project in rural Senegal took a different approach – reducing water pollution and removing invasive water plants to reduce the habitat for the snails that host the parasitic worms that carry the disease – resulting in a 32 per cent reduction in infections in children, improved access to freshwater and new revenue for the local communities.”</p><p>The IPBES, however, does not have a mechanism to review how the member countries, including India, adopt the solutions and change their policies. To a question, however, Anne Larigauderie from IPBES secretariat said a review of sorts would be possible when countries consider the implication of the nexus assessment and report on the issues to the Convention on Biological Diversity.</p><p>Prof Pamela McElwee said for biodiversity alone, inaction will mean the cost of restoration will double within 10 years. Delayed action on biodiversity goals, for example, could as much as double costs – also increasing the probability of irreplaceable losses such as species extinctions. Delayed action on climate change adds at least $500 billion per year in additional costs for meeting policy targets, she said.</p>