Highlights and images for 12 December 2024

Transformative change, a fundamental, system-wide shift in views, structures, and practices, is a prerequisite for safeguarding life on Earth. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) community is well aware of this fact, at least since 2019, when the first Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services was released.

The Global Assessment Report clarified that goals for conserving and sustainably using nature and achieving sustainability, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, cannot be met under current trajectories. It identified several possible actions and pathways to bring about transformative change and reverse negative trends related to, among other things, land use changes, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. While by its very nature transformative change generates opposition from those with vested interests in the status quo, overcoming such obstacles is key for the broader public good.

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As a result, the thematic assessment of the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, determinants of transformative change and options for achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity (Transformative Change Assessment), under discussion at IPBES 11, is considered by many participants of paramount importance. As Arun Agrawal (US), one of the assessment’s Co-Chairs emphasized: “We need to better understand the obstacles, but even more importantly, the options for action that will bring about a more just and sustainable world.”

With negotiations ongoing, it is clear to most delegates that tackling such a fundamental topic presents both opportunities and challenges. Discussions addressed, among other things, persistent relations of domination over nature and people; inadequate policies and unfit institutions; and unsustainable consumption and production patterns. IPBES members discussed suggestions to include “capitalism,” “materialism,” “globalization,” and “neoliberalism” as concepts that capture the idea of relations of domination over nature and people, with a delegate underscoring that such deliberations do not take place often in intergovernmental settings. While some delegates rejected the inclusion of such terms in the key messages, noting that “relations of domination over nature and people” is a general enough term, most anticipate the remaining of the text with great interest.

Work on the thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health (Nexus Assessment), the other much-awaited output of IPBES 11, continued in full speed, with Working Group 1 devoting three sessions to progress on background messages. With strong encouragements from Co-Chair Douglas Beard to pick up the pace, progress was made but much remains to be done for a successful and timely adoption.