‘Siloed thinking’ is holding back solutions to biodiversity, human health, climate change, water, and food security, according to a new global report with New Zealand authors.
The Nexus report is the most ambitious scientific assessment ever undertaken of the complex interconnections between these global crises. The report has been agreed upon by almost 150 member Governments including New Zealand.
It offers more than 70 response options including restoring forests and wetlands, reducing meat overconsumption, and reducing pesticide and plastic pollution.
The Nexus report is from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), often described as the ‘IPCC for Biodiversity’.
The SMC asked authors of the report to comment.
Professor David Hayman, Professor of Infectious Disease Ecology, Massey University, comments:
“We’re in an extinction crisis.
“Biodiversity is declining by 5% every year by most indicators. Most of the global population are living in areas that are experiencing high impact from declines of biodiversity, but also water availability, food security, and an increase in health risk.
“The Nexus report is a global assessment, but we know nature is really important in New Zealand for multiple reasons.
“In this report we look at things like soil biodiversity, which is really important for agricultural production. It’s about how we manage it, ways to mitigate water use and things like soil erosion, which reduce food productivity.
“We also look at things like invasive species. One of our case studies is domestic cats in New Zealand, they have massive impact on our native birds and also native reptiles. But they also shed toxoplasmosis that can cause abortion in sheep – that’s another production issue. We’ve also got evidence that toxoplasmosis gets washed through freshwater systems and out to sea, where it can infect and kill critically endangered Māui dolphin, which are a tāonga species for Māori. Toxoplasmosis also affects human health, as it can cause abortion, eye problems, and various other health problems.
“What we are also trying to do with this report is present some of the options available, so that people at all levels, governments and individuals, can do something about biodiversity loss.
“Māori worldviews don’t separate themselves as people from the environment. We’re also encouraging a much more holistic approach to ourselves and the way we live in the world.”
Note: These comments have been transcribed from a media briefing with Prof Hayman.
Conflict of interest statement: Prof Hayman is a coordinating lead author of the IPBES Nexus Assessment.
Professor Bruce Glavovic, School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, comments:
“The mission of IPBES is to strengthen policy and decision-making through research and science for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, human well-being and sustainable development.
“What does nexus mean; and why the nexus imperative?
“Nexus refers to a focal point; the intersection or connection between things, people or events. The IPBES Nexus assessment examines the interconnections between biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change. The report helps decision-makers better understand these interconnections and tackle challenges and unlock opportunities in holistic and integrated ways.
“Institutionalising nexus thinking and enabling nexus governance is challenging. But this is urgent, vital work. And we have a head-start in Aotearoa New Zealand. For more than a decade, through the National Science Challenges, the country’s leading researchers, Māori and Pākehā, worked in close partnership with government, tangata whenua, civil society, and the private sector, to advance understanding and enable action on some of the country’s most pressing challenges.
“The country is now at a turning point – a nexus – for understanding and addressing these challenges. The integrative, transdisciplinary National Science Challenges have been halted. The basis for funding and conducting research in Aotearoa New Zealand is under review as our universities and research institutions struggle to make ends meet. To compound matters, the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology has halted Marsden funding for blue-sky social science and humanities research on the grounds that only ‘hard science’ and technology can advance the economy. Is this a harbinger of things to come?
“Our environmental governance regime is being overhauled. The government has decided that a “Fast-Track” approach is the most appropriate way to address our complex and contested intertwined cultural-socio-economic-
“The government’s Treaty Principles Bill unilaterally limits Māori rights and Crown obligations, provoking more than 42,000 people to protest outside parliament, with many more in support around the country. The cultural and moral affront is lost on those advocating the Bill.
“The nexus imperative is clear and compelling. And the IPBES Nexus Assessment is a foundation for recalibrating our thinking and action, in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world.”
Conflict of interest statement: Bruce Glavovic served in two roles in the Nexus Assessment: First, as a Lead Author for Ch 6: Options for delivering sustainable approaches to public and private finance for biodiversity-related elements of the nexus. Second, as a Coordinating Lead Author for Ch7: A summary and synthesis of options, knowledge and technology gaps, and capacity development and a roadmap for holistic approaches to decision-making.
Dr Rebecca Jarvis, Senior Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology, comments:
“To date, most actions taken on challenges related to biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change have been taken separately, in single-issue silos. Such an approach misses important opportunities for achieving co-benefits across challenges, while risking perverse outcomes where an action taken towards one challenge may have negative or unintended consequences for another.
“For example, single-issue approaches may prioritise planting rapidly growing pine trees in response to climate change, rather than conserving and restoring native biodiversity that can deliver positive outcomes for nature, people, and the climate. Unsustainable food production may be incentivised for short-term economic gain via a siloed approach, instead of supporting a shift towards more sustainable, equitable, and healthy food practices that can deliver multiple positive outcomes for human health, water, climate, and biodiversity.
“The need for holistic ‘nexus approaches’ that address interconnected challenges together has never been more urgent.
“The IPBES Nexus Report considers the complex interlinkages between biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change to provide guidance towards more holistic approaches that can achieve multiple co-benefits. In doing so, the report offers alternative pathways – across knowledge systems, sectors, and disciplines – to inform more integrated decisions and actions for a more just, sustainable, and biodiverse future.”
Conflict of interest statement: Dr Rebecca Jarvis is a Lead Author of Chapter 1 and Chapter 7 of the IPBES Nexus Report.
Our colleagues at the Australian Science Media Centre also gathered comments:
Peter Bridgewater, Honorary Professor in the Centre for Heritage and Museum studies at The Australian National University, comments:
“This current season of intergovernmental environmental meetings since Mid-November has not been very successful.
“The Convention on Biological Diversity COP 16 could not finish and will resume in February, COP 29 of the Convention on Climate Change left many delegates disappointed and the Convention on Combatting Desertification COP16 finished with the major items of work unfinished.
“Many felt the eleventh meeting of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform (IPBES) might go the same way. Yet, despite some last-minute drama, and many sessions of arguing over contentious words, a major global assessment on the links among biodiversity, water, food and health (so-called nexus assessment) was approved.
“Although there are many messages in the assessment, for me two key take-aways were: Biodiversity loss and climate change are interdependent and produce compounding impacts that threaten human health and human well-being, resulting in a need to move from current siloed modes of governance through more integrative, inclusive, equitable, accountable, coordinated and adaptive approaches; and that Indigenous Peoples and local communities already possess capacities for nexus governance approaches. Implementing these messages in other sectors of society will achieve positive change in biodiversity and start to rebuild a sustainable planet.”
Conflict of interest statement: Peter has declared he has no conflicts of interest on this report. He was a review editor of the second – Transformative Change Report.