GEO-6 provides an analysis of the state of the global environment, the corresponding policy responses of different levels and projections for the near future. However, unlike previous GEO reports it focuses on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. GEO-6 convincingly demonstrates that a healthy environment is the best foundation for economic prosperity, human health and well‐being. But it is human behaviour that continues to have mainly negative impacts on biodiversity, atmosphere, oceans, water and land, which adversely affect human health. It must, therefore, be our objective to safeguard and regain the integrity of the ecosystem through sustainable development. GEO-6 concludes that “unsustainable human activities globally have degraded the Earth’s ecosystems, endangering the ecological foundations of society. Urgent action at an unprecedented scale is necessary to arrest and reverse this situation, thereby protecting human and environmental health and maintaining the current and future integrity of global ecosystems. Key actions include reducing land degradation, biodiversity loss, and air, land and water pollution; improving water management and resource management; climate change mitigation and adaptation; resource efficiency; addressing decarbonisation, decoupling and detoxification; and the prevention and management of risk and disasters. Those all require more ambitious and effective policies, including sustainable consumption and production, greater resource efficiency and improved resource management, integrated ecosystem management, and integrated waste management and prevention”.

The Executive Summary states that environmental risks “continue to dominate the results of our annual Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS). This year, they accounted for three of the top five risks by likelihood and four by impact. Extreme weather was the risk of greatest concern, but our survey respondents are increasingly worried about environmental policy failure: having fallen in the rankings after Paris, “failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation” jumped back to number two in terms of impact this year. The results of climate inaction are becoming increasingly clear. The accelerating pace of biodiversity loss is a particular concern. Species abundance is down by 60% since 1970. In the human food chain, biodiversity loss is affecting health and socioeconomic development, with implications for well-being, productivity, and even regional security”.

Report: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2019.pdf

This report presents the first global assessment of biodiversity for food and agriculture (BFA) meticulously elaborated over a span of 5 years. This is worth noting because agriculture itself has been identified as one of the main drivers for biodiversity loss and climate change. The report addresses the sustainable use, development and conservation of BFA worldwide. BFA includes the diversity of animals, plants and micro-organisms at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels that sustain structures, functions and processes in and around production systems and provide food and non-food agricultural products. Biodiversity for food and agriculture is indispensable to food security and sustainable development. The report is divided into five parts:

• Overview of the context of the assessment and the contributions of BFA to human-wellbeing;
• Discussion of the main drivers affecting BFA and analysis of status and trends of BFA;
• Presentation of the state of use of BFA and different management approaches, the roles of micro-organisms, aspects of genetic improvement as well as conservation efforts for BFA;
• Enabling frameworks regarding state of policies, institutions and capacities for supporting BFA; and finally 5) Needs and challenges in the management of BFA.

Report: http://www.fao.org/state-of-biodiversity-for-food-agriculture/en/

• Nature and its vital contributions to people, which together embody biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, is deteriorating worldwide;
• Direct and indirect drivers of change have accelerated during the past 50 years;
• Goals for conserving and sustainably using nature and achieving sustainability cannot be met by current trajectories, and goals for 2030 and beyond may only be achieved through transformative changes across economic, social, political and technological factors;
• Nature can be conserved, restored and used sustainably while other global societal goals are simultaneously met through urgent and concerted efforts fostering transformative change.

To achieve the 2050 vision for biodiversity the conference distinguishes “Components” and “Pillars”:

Components:

• Central component – 2050 Vision 2050 and 2030 Mission 2030 with global strategic/aspirational goals reflecting desired status of biodiversity clearly expressed, 2030 SMART goals;
• Accountability framework (review, monitoring, reporting, assessment utilizing indicators);
• Enabling conditions (resource mobilisation, capacity building, knowledge management, technology transfer, communication, legal instrument, etc.)

Pillars:

• Mission, Vision, Targets;
• implementation and drivers,
• enabling tools/elements, and
• Action Agenda, Non-state Actors, mainstreaming. Each pillar with targets which can be organised/prioritised based on country specific conditions. Subset of these targets will be selected for communication as prioritised by country.