Human-caused biodiversity loss has accelerated over the past fifty years. An opinion article published September 30th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by a team of renowned international authors, including Anne Larigauderie, former Executive Secretary of Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), concludes that stopping biodiversity loss is contingent on transformative social and cultural changes across multiple scales.
The IPBES Transformative Change Assessment is a 2024 report prepared by an interdisciplinary group of nearly 100 scientists and holders of Indigenous and local knowledge. It aims to inform the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework. In the published summary of the assessment, researchers explain why past efforts to address biodiversity loss have been ineffective, outline five strategies to achieve the 2050 Global Vision for Biodiversity and highlight options for action by different kinds of actors (including individuals) in implementing these strategies.
The three main reasons previous efforts to curb biodiversity loss have failed are 1) disconnection from and domination over nature and people; 2) concentration of wealth and power in a minority of people, with disproportionate harm to the environment; 3) prioritization of short-term, individual, and material gains over long-term social and ecological sustainability.
The authors then propose five strategies to achieve transformative change. The first strategy involves incorporating both culture and ecology into conservation and restoration efforts. Strategy two is the integration of biodiversity concerns into the economic sectors most responsible for environmental degradation, including agriculture, fisheries, forestry, infrastructure, and energy. The third strategy focuses on finance and the economy, calling for redefining economic progress to account for ecological and social well-being metrics. Reforming governments to be more inclusive, accountable and adaptive is the penultimate strategy. The fifth and final strategy is a shift in societal values led by social movements, education, and communication.
According to the authors, "We emphasize that every person, group and organization has a role in pursuing the actions needed to create transformative change. Even small, incremental changes can contribute to transformative change when they enable shifts in views, structures and practices that address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and nature's decline. Indeed, the findings of the Assessment are an urgent call to action and a source of knowledge for concerted efforts across scales to pursue transformative change towards a just and sustainable world."
Coauthor Karen O'Brien states, "The diversity of societies, economies, cultures and peoples means that no single theory or approach provides a complete understanding of transformative change or how to achieve it. Many knowledge systems, including Indigenous and local knowledge, provide complementary insights into how it occurs and how to promote, accelerate and navigate the change needed for a just and sustainable world."
Coauthor Arun Agrawal notes, "The underlying causes of biodiversity loss and nature's decline also create inequalities and injustices. Those who have benefited most from the economic activities associated with damage to nature – in particular, wealthy actors - have more opportunities and resources to create change. Doing so while involving others in balanced decision-making processes can unleash agency as well as resources to create change."
Coauthor Lucas Garibaldi adds, "History has shown us that societies can transform at immense scale – as they did during the Industrial Revolution. While that era wrought terrible environmental and human costs, it stands as proof that fundamental, system-wide change is achievable, although it occurred over a much longer period of time than is needed for current transformative change for a just and sustainable world. To meet our shared global development goals today means we need to embark on a new transformation – one that urgently conserves and restores our planet's biodiversity rather than depleting it, while enabling everyone to prosper."
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology: https://plos.io/4oZQEUI
Citation: Larigauderie A, O'Brien K, Garibaldi LA, Agrawal A (2025) Transformative change to address biodiversity loss is urgent and possible. PLoS Biol 23(9): e3003387. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003387
Author countries: Germany, Norway, Argentina, United States
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.
