On 18 December 2024, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) launched its “Transformative Change Report”, an assessment report on the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and the kind of system-wide changes needed to conserve and restore biodiversity for a more just and sustainable world. The landmark new report warns that deep, fundamental shifts in how people view and interact with nature are urgently needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and safeguard life on Earth.

The IPBES Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity builds on the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report, which found that the only way to achieve global development goals is through transformative change, and on the 2022 IPBES Values Assessment Report.

The report, launched in Windhoek, Namibia evaluates the drivers of transformative change, how it occurs and its main obstacles. It also outlines feasible strategies to promote, accelerate and sustain transformative change towards a sustainable world, and the actions necessary to realise global goals for such change. It is expected to be an essential resource for policy makers, providing the best-available evidence, analysis and options for leading to transformative change.

Approved by the IPBES plenary represented by 147 governments, the report aims to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services. NRI’s Professor Valerie Nelson who co-authored the report said: ‘This report could not be more urgently needed, given the pace of global biodiversity losses. It provides evidence on the barriers to transformative change, as well as setting out important pathways towards sustainability to guide policymakers and social movements seeking more effective action.’

University of Michigan’s Professor Arun Agrawal who co-chaired the assessment explained its relevance: ‘The only way to achieve our shared development goals is through transformative change – fundamental system-wide reorganisation across technology, economy and society. To do this, 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.’

The report addresses a range of questions including what transformative changes are and  how they relate to biodiversity management and nature’s contributions to people. It also explores how these changes link to the relationship between direct and indirect determinants of biodiversity loss and degradation. Drawing upon Indigenous and scientific knowledge, the report identifies five overarching challenges: 1) relations of domination over nature and people, especially those that emerged and were propagated in colonial eras and that persist over time; 2) economic and political inequalities; 3) inadequate policies and unfit institutions; 4) unsustainable consumption and production patterns including individual habits and practices; and 5) limited access to clean technologies and uncoordinated knowledge and innovation systems. These challenges operate at multiple scales and reflect views, structures and practices that are complex and power-laden.

The assessment emphasises five primary strategies and corresponding actions that offer complementary and synergistic benefits. These strategies can be pursued by nations and individuals to promote intentional transformative change for global sustainability. They include:

• conserving, restoring and regenerating places of value to people and nature that exemplify biocultural diversity
• enabling systematic change and mainstreaming biodiversity in the sectors most responsible for nature’s decline
• transforming economic systems for nature and equity
• transforming governance systems to be inclusive, accountable and adaptive
• shifting views and values to recognise human-nature interconnectedness.

These transformative change strategies are guided by principles of equity and justice, pluralism and inclusion, respectful and reciprocal human-nature relationships and adaptive learning and action.

A key message from the report is that individuals, organisations, governments and social movements have a part to play in creating transformative change at various levels and finds that coalitions of actors and groups are more effective in driving transformative change than individual efforts.

Written by over 100 experts from 42 countries, the report draws on roughly 7,000 references reflecting the diversity of current knowledge on the causes of biodiversity loss, transformative change drivers and strategies for realising the 2050 vision for biodiversity.

This assessment report is expected to build an understanding of the implications of the primary causes of biodiversity loss for achieving the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and other major international development objectives. It will also be essential in charting pathways for achieving the 2050 Vision of living in harmony with nature.

About IPBES:

IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising almost 150 member Governments and many non-governmental observer organisations. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit www.ipbes.net