Why in News?

• The health of ecosystems that humans and other species depend on is “deteriorating more rapidly than ever”, with up to one million species threatened with extinction, many within decades, a large-scale global assessment by a United Nations body has Found

Details of the Report:

• Based on a review of about 15,000 scientific and government sources and compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries, the global report is the first comprehensive look in 15 years at the state of the planet’s Biodiversity
• Report includes, for the first time, indigenous and local knowledge as well as scientific studies.
• The authors say they found overwhelming evidence that human activities are behind nature’s decline.

• Natural habitats are being destroyed at an accelerating pace, adding that the current rate of global species extinction is “tens to hundreds of times” higher compared to the average over the last 10 million Years
• Even for global warming of 1.5 to 2 degrees, the majority of terrestrial species ranges are projected to shrink profoundly Comminities
• It ranks “five direct drivers” that cause changes in nature that have the largest relative global impact. In descending order, these include: changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution and “invasive alien species”.
• The report finds that “three-quarters of the land-based environment and about 66% of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions”. Notably, “On average these trends have been less severe or avoided in areas held or managed by indigenous peoples and local ” Extinctions

IPBES:

• The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental body, established by member States in 2012
• The objective of IPBES is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable
• Much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which provides scientific assessments of climate change, the IPBES was set up in 2012, to provide a larger sustainability framework informed by the latest Science
• India is a member of IPBES