The acting Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, stressed that we have to detect what are the factors that are causing biodiversity to disappear and tackle them. He did so during the “Stop Biodiversity Loss” meeting, organised by the Biodiversity Foundation and held at the headquarters of the Abertis Foundation, where Spanish experts who have worked on the drafting of the “Global Biodiversity Assessment” report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), have discussed its results and the possible solutions to be adopted.
Ribera also highlighted as key points connecting, demanding and demanding so that those who make political decisions or in the private sector feel pushed to react responsibly to the loss of biodiversity.
During this day, different experts have talked about the situation of the planet and the transformative changes necessary to restore and protect nature, and guarantee the health and development of humanity.
The report, presented last May in Paris, is the most comprehensive scientific review of the state of biodiversity to date. It has been prepared by 145 experts and 310 collaborators from 50 countries. It assesses the changes over the past five decades, providing a comprehensive picture of the relationship between economic development pathways and their impact on nature. It also offers a range of possible scenarios for the coming decades.
The document reflects that the speed with which ecosystems are deteriorating is unprecedented in the history of humanity and the extinction of species is advancing at an accelerated pace as a result of unregulated human activities, but it also points out that these trends can be stopped. This will require a “transformative change” in every aspect of how humans interact with nature.
A CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUE
Unai Pascual, from the Basque Centre for Climate Change BC3, lead author and member of the Management Committee of the IPBES Global Assessment and co-chair of the IPBES Values Assessment, stressed that we must protect nature and biodiversity because it makes us human. Pascual also wanted to emphasize a message: the emergency on the loss of biodiversity and biodiversity itself is a cultural, social, economic issue, a single very complex system, us and nature.
During the meeting, a debate took place on the main contents and solutions of the global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services, in which Victoria Reyes García (ICREA-Autonomous University of Barcelona), who led the analysis of the role of indigenous peoples in the conservation of biodiversity reflected in the report, together with Unai Pascual; and Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares (University of Helsinki), whose chapter in the report has focused on transformative change.
Victoria Reyes pointed out that “the report is aimed at decision-makers, who are not only politicians, we are all of us, all our decisions in daily life have an impact on biodiversity”.
Fernández-Llamazares, for his part, has focused on the fact that part of the report states that the system can be changed, that it is possible to reverse the situation.
To close the day, a conversation took place on the actions to be implemented in terms of biodiversity, between the acting Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and Julia Marton-Lefèvre, independent advisor on the environment and sustainable development and member of the IPBES Bureau for Western Europe and other states.
Marton-Lefèvre, from a global analysis, has stated that “Europe, and within Europe Spain itself, must continue to lead the fight against climate change and against the loss of biodiversity”. He also pointed out that we must continue to demand that political leaders act.
For her part, the acting Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, remarked that “it is a very interesting time: we have little time, there is a very strong demand, and we cannot disappoint the expectation. It’s not just losing ecosystems, it’s losing confidence in our ability as a society to solve problems. Therefore, it attacks the democratic principle and the capacity of society to seek the common good.”
Finally, he concluded that “there is a complete disconnect between the products we consume and their origin. All citizens have to be aware and be much more honest, consistent, informed and demanding with our actions”.
