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Biodiversity and the Future We Want

24th February 2014

Presented by

Zakri Abdul HamidScience Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia

& Chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

At the

IAU 2014 International Conference 20th March 2014

Adopting Capabilities Approach

“Malaysia has been at the forefront in articulating the need for a balance between the environment and development. For us, this is the crux of sustainable development: to achieve such goals as relieving poverty by availing ourselves of our natural resources without compromising the ability of future generations to do likewise”

Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia at the High Level Forum on Biodiversity and Development, Kuala Lumpur, November 2013

The current and projected rates of biodiversity lossconstitute the sixth major extinction event in the history of life on Earth—the first to be driven specifically by the impacts of human activities onthe planet (Rockstrom et al 2009; Chapin et al. 2000)

What Kind of Future without Biodiversity?

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

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Biodiversity Crisis

Source: Reuters (2010)

Unprecedented change: Ecosystems

• More than two thirds of the area of two biomes and more than half of the area of four others had been converted by 1990

• 5-10% of the area of five biomes was converted between 1950 and 1990

• More land was converted to cropland in the 30 years after 1950 than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005)

Biodiversity and SDGs: MDG Goal 7

Although more land and marine areas are under protection, many species of birds, mammals and others are heading for extinction at a fast pace.

Forests are disappearing at a rapid pace, despite the establishment of forest policies and laws supporting sustainable forest management in many countries.

MDG 7 Fact Sheet (2013)

Biodiversity and SDGS: Inclusive Wealth Index as overarching goals

“The real wealth of nations: a better way to size up wealth”The Economist (front cover mention)

“A substantial step towards true sustainable development” Huffington Post

“IWI is the first serious attempt to measure the total wealth of the planet’s richest countries”Time magazine

Biodiversity and SDGs: Linking to Constituents of Well-being

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005)

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Human influence has been detected in warming of the atmosphere and the ocean, in changes in the global water cycle, in reductions in snow and ice, in global mean sea level rise, and in changes in some climate extremes. It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century

IPCC Assessment Report 2013

Science-Policy Platform: IPCC

Science-Policy Platform: Crucial need for IPBES

IPBES: Task force on Indigenous and Local Knowledge

On December 14th 2013, the Antalya Consensus was achieved at the Second Meeting of the Platform Plenary. One of the key outcomes was the decision to establish a task force to oversee the development of procedures and approaches for working with indigenous and local knowledge systems.

Conclusion: Bridging the Gap between knowledge and action

THANK YOU