Context: Recently, a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was released.

Key highlights of the report

• Large scale afforestation and bioenergy plantations are likely to reduce nature’s contribution to people and prevent achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like hunger and poverty reduction.
• Large-scale tree planting can be harmful to biodiversity and food production due to competition for land. This can lead to displacement effects (indirect land-use change).
• Afforestation may even reduce existing ecosystem carbon storage, cause further biodiversity loss and displace local people or curtail their access to land.

Single species plantations can increase pests and disease.

• Instead, IPBES experts have recommended that governments focus on preventing destruction of existing forests.
• Significant reductions in the destruction and degradation of forest ecosystems; non-forest terrestrial ecosystems such as wetlands and peatlands, grasslands and savannas; and coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, kelp forests, seagrass meadows and deep water and polar blue carbon habitats can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land- and sea-use change and maintain large carbon sinks if properly managed.
• For instance, reducing deforestation and forest degradation can contribute to lowering annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, with emission saving estimates ranging from 0.4–5.8 GtCO2 e yr-1.

On a per area basis, some ecosystems are even more important carbon sinks than forests.

• For example, mangroves may sequester four times more carbon than rainforests per unit area.
• Protected areas currently represent only about 15% of land and 7.5% of the ocean.

Most vulnerable ecosystems of the world are already highly impacted

• Tropical coral reefs highly sensitive to warming and ocean acidification.
• Savannas which are experiencing vegetation shifts due to increasing atmospheric CO2.
• Tropical forests experiencing vegetation shifts mainly due to drying.
• High latitude and altitude ecosystems and Mediterranean-climate ecosystems and coastal ecosystem.

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

• The IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body established by States 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 development.
• It was established in Panama City, on 21 April 2012 by 94 Governments.
• It is not a United Nations body. However, at the request of the IPBES Plenary and with the authorization of the UNEP Governing Council in 2013, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to IPBES.

IPBES can be broadly grouped into four complementary areas

• Assessments: On specific themes (e.g. “Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production”); methodological issues (e.g. “Scenarios and Modelling); and at both the regional and global levels (e.g. “Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”).
• Policy Support: Identifying policy-relevant tools and methodologies, facilitating their use, and catalyzing their further development.
• Building Capacity & Knowledge: Identifying and meeting the priority capacity, knowledge and data needs of our member States, experts and stakeholders.
• Communications & Outreach: Ensuring the widest reach and impact of our work

By: Shubham Tiwari