Biodiversity & Nature
Biodiversity loss
The accelerating decline in the variety of life — species, ecosystems and genetic diversity — driven primarily by land- and sea-use change, exploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive species.
Expert review openNo editor-accepted expert review yetDefinition
The ongoing reduction in biological diversity at genetic, species and ecosystem levels. The IPBES Global Assessment (2019) — the most comprehensive assessment to date, drawing on ~15,000 sources — concluded that nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history: around one million of an estimated eight million species face extinction, many within decades, without transformative action.
References
~1 million species threatened; five direct drivers; indirect drivers; 80% of SDG targets undermined; transformative change finding.
Assessment scope (~15,000 sources, 145 authors, 50 countries); driver ranking; human-activity attribution.
Overview
What it means
IPBES ranks five direct drivers in descending order of impact: changes in land and sea use; direct exploitation of organisms (overfishing, logging, hunting); climate change; pollution; and invasive alien species. Behind them sit indirect drivers — population growth, consumption and production patterns, and governance failures.
The same assessment warned that biodiversity decline undermines progress on 80% of assessed SDG targets, reframing it as a development and security issue.
How it is used
"Biodiversity loss" anchors the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's mission to halt and reverse loss by 2030, and nature-related financial risk frameworks (TNFD) that treat it as a systemic economic risk. Trend measures include the Living Planet Index and Red List Index.
Why it matters
Biodiversity loss is one of the planetary boundaries judged already transgressed, and its feedbacks with climate change (deforestation, ocean stress) make the two crises mutually reinforcing — the basis for treating nature as core sustainability infrastructure rather than a side issue.
Review
Public comments appear only after editor acceptance. Draft comments stay in the review queue.
Reviewers choose the definition or an overview paragraph, leave a comment or replacement, and attach evidence or a source link.
Editors compare reviewer cards side by side. AI may help find agreement, conflicts, unsupported claims and possible source issues.
Only an editor-accepted synthesis changes the public page. Reviewer identities are shown only with consent and verification.
Submitted reviews stay private until accepted.
Loading verified endorsements… Endorsements are not votes and never determine publication.
Endorse this definition
Endorse the exact version shown here. This is not a vote, and publication remains an editorial decision.
Review board
Comment on a specific line. Each reviewer stays separate until an editor accepts a merged draft.
Each person comments on the definition or overview in their own draft card, with role, evidence and suggested wording kept together.
AI can compare comments against the current text, flag conflicting claims, surface missing evidence and identify where reviewers agree.
An editor merges compatible suggestions into a draft change, checks sources, records disagreements and decides what can be published.