International cooperation to tackle biodiversity, water, food, health, climate and transformative change

Are you familiar with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services?(IPBES)? It is an independent intergovernmental body that provides decision-makers with the most comprehensive scientific information on biodiversity.?

The?11th IPBES Plenary, currently composed of 147 governmental representatives, hundreds of world experts and observers,?took place in Windhoek, Namibia, from 10 to 16 December 2024. It focused on the new assessment reports on Nexus and Transformative Change and decided on the scoping report for the IPBES 2nd Global Assessment scheduled in 2028.?

Key issues?

The Plenary adopted two major complementary assessment reports outlining key actions needed to address biodiversity loss, worsened by climate change and pollution.?

The Nexus assessment report tackles the intertwined global crises of biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change. This ambitious work bridges single-issue siloes, considers the interdependencies between these crises, uncovers synergies and opportunities, and offers concrete, coherent and coordinated approaches. The Transformative Change assessment report focuses on the underlying causes of the biodiversity crisis, the drivers of change and the options for achieving a system-wide reorganisation for a fair and sustainable future.

EU contribution?

The EU has the status of IPBES enhanced observer since 2018 and takes part in the IPBES Plenary represented by delegates of the European Commission On the occasion of the IPBES 11th Plenary, the European Research Council (ERC) and the European Research Executive Agency (REA), together with the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), identified the 14 most relevant Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects on the biodiversity nexus: Biodiversity - Publications Office of the EU?

Additionally, the ERC published a specific report on transformative change for a sustainable future: Frontier research for transformative change | ERC analysing over 300 ground-breaking projects across 22 countries, with a total investment of € 653 million. This complements 16 projects managed by REA making an impact in the conservation, restoration, and wise use of biodiversity, while considering broader social and economic sustainable goals: EU-funded projects leading the way to transformative change for biodiversity - European Commission?

The European Union is a major donor to IPBES, contributing €9 million to its Trust Fund (2019-2028) from EU’s R&I budget. In addition, through its research programmes, the EU funds impactful biodiversity projects, including coordination actions that fill critical knowledge gaps and deliver policy-relevant outcomes to support the European Green Deal and the Global Biodiversity Framework.?

Last but not least, recognising the importance of science cooperation for biodiversity, Horizon Europe, the EU's research and innovation programme for 2021-2027, will invest over €1 billion in this important research area. Overall, 10% of Horizon Europe budget is devoted to tackling biodiversity, including via four EU Missions – Mission Adaptation to Climate Change, Mission Ocean and Waters, Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, and Mission a Soil Deal for Europe.?

Find out more about the main findings of the reports and the EU’s contribution in this news item: europa.eu/!pGWf7C