Summary for policymakers of the thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health (nexus assessment) of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Nexus Assessment

The thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health (nexus assessment) of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) addresses the complex and interconnected character of the crises and challenges of biodiversity loss, water availability and quality, food insecurity, health risks and climate change. It does so by providing a critical evaluation of evidence on interlinkages among five nexus elements: biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change. Although not mentioned in the title of the assessment, climate change has important and increasing, yet often overlooked, interactions with all nexus elements through climate change impacts and mitigation and adaptation actions. Climate change is a key direct driver of biodiversity loss, and thus is considered one of the five nexus elements. While energy is not considered as a nexus element, relevant aspects of energy systems are assessed where they have interlinkages with biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Other systems, such as land, soil and air, are considered to be cross-cutting rather than stand-alone nexus elements.