The new IPBES report on biodiversity loss is both the most comprehensive and the most alarming of its kind so far. One million species could be pushed to extinction due to our need for ever more food and energy. But the report also says worldwide measures could turn the tide. A recent plan launched in the Netherlands suggests what the way forward could look like.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has collected and compiled data on an unprecedented scale, with 145 authors from 50 countries and incorporating a wealth of local and indigenous knowledge. But that doesn't mean its conclusions should come as a surprise.

Even in countries such as the Netherlands, the rapid loss of biodiversity is acutely felt: just take the mass disappearance of flying insects. On a global scale, the impact is even more dramatic. In the words of NIOO-director Louise Vet, the IPBES report shows "just how impossible it has effectively become for wild animals and plants to share a planet with the most invasive species of all: us."

Positivism

But Vet is not one to throw in the towel. She's one of the initiators of the recent 'Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery' here in the Netherlands: an ambitious attempt to unite farmers, banks, supermarkets, scientists, local authorities and others in the belief that biodiversity loss can be reversed and that people and nature can in fact flourish side by side.

"I see that same sense of positivism in the IPBES report as well", she says. Even though the report points out that most policy scenarios will only continue the current, negative trend and that many short-term conservation goals have already stopped being viable, it does argue that there is time to turn the tide. As long as there is "transformative change" in our interactions with nature.

According to the IPBES, such change could take place without leading to major shortages of food and resources for the growing world population, or affecting our quality of life: a notion that is also close to Louise Vet's heart. "The economy should still run just fine, the difference is that its success will be based on restoring and maintaining biodiversity and no longer on destroying it."

Revenue models

The IPBES report lists a number of factors on which such transformative change will depend: having consistent laws and regulations, investing in innovative technologies and education, and involving all land users rather than just some. "This is exactly the approach the Delta Plan is taking", says Vet. "We have defined five 'success factors' and all of these are actually in the report."

Of particular importance, according to Vet, is the need to develop new business models. Instead of the current "perverse" subsidies for the wrong kinds of agriculture and energy production, it is necessary to put a realistic price on nature and its vital contributions to people. "That means there should ultimately be a financial reward for preserving or restoring biodiversity".

Vet is hopeful that major powers such as those united in the G20 will respond to the strong emphasis put on this by the report, and global markets too. "We have already managed to put a price on CO2 worldwide. This is similar. What we need now is proper bookkeeping."

Example

The broad coalition formed for the Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery was in many ways a first in the Netherlands. Never before had conservationists, banks, commercial parties such as supermarkets and farmers sat down together to talk about things such as business models and incentives. But the Delta Plan is still in its early stages, and of course the Netherlands is hardly the biggest of countries.

It doesn't stop Louise Vet from believing that the Dutch experience has something valuable to offer. "The Delta Plan can work as an example of how to translate the points made by the IPBES report in practical terms. And some of the parties involved in the Plan are multinationals, so they are well placed to do this. For us, the report is a major boost."