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Sustainability News

View Source | May 6, 2019

Young toucan standing on branchOn May 6 at the UNESCO world headquarters in Paris, the United Nations released a global assessment on biodiversity as part of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It is the first large-scale global assessment on biodiversity since 2005.

Arizona State University’s Leah Gerber, a professor in the School of Life Sciences, a senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and founding director of the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, was one of the lead authors of the IPBES global assessment. In an interview with ASU Now, Gerber provides her thoughts on the assessment and what needs to be done to improve biodiversity of the planet.

The IPBES report — a “health check” on the biodiversity of Earth — provides a summary of the world's status in relation to international goals including Sustainable Development Goals, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Paris Agreement on climate change. In addition to assessing current biodiversity status, the global assessment discusses likely future pathways over the next three decades if current trends continue.

Leah Gerber on her role on the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity:

Leah Gerber on the keys to success in conservation science: