Understanding climate
for the benefit of society

Dr. Anne Larigauderie with rector Margareth Hagen in the picture to the left. Panel debate from morning meeting by the Norwegian Climate Foundation. Photos & collage: Gudrun Sylte

The Commissioner of Nature and Biodiversity visits Bergen

Dr. Anne Larigauderie is in Bergen today to receive her honorary doctorate at the University of Bergen. She has been central in building up the IPBES, who have revealed how nature is deteriorating on Earth today. 

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The IPBES – Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is assesses science and status on our Earth’s nature and biodiversity. Formed in 2012, it was modeled after the IPCC – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

It is due to her central role in leading and building up the IPBES, the UiB now have elected Larigauderie as an Honorary Doctorate. 

“Anne Larigauderie has been central since IPBES' inception in 2012. She has been instrumental in IPBES becoming as agenda setting as it has become, and ensured that it gained a broader focus, by seeing the threats to natural diversity in the context of societal challenges, different values, and perspectives from indigenous peoples and from local communities”, says Margaret Hagen, the UiB rector in an interview on the announcement

In Bergen she met a large and interested audience in the morning at a breakfast meeting with the Norwegian Climate Foundation, and later in her honorary doctorate speech. 

 

Biodiversity loss and climate change are interconnected

In 2020-2021 the IPCC and IPBES had their first joint workshop, leading to their workshop report on biodiversity and climate change, stating that biodiversity loss and climate change are interconnected and mutually reinforcing: They can only be solved if addressed together

Find the report here

In her speech, Larigauderie highlighted some crucial findings from the global assessment report: 

Nature is deteriorating at a rate and scale unprecedented in human history because of human activities:

  • 75 % of the land area has been significantly altered. 
  • About 85% of wetland area has been lost.
  • Only 3 % of the ocean surface is considered as wild. 
  • 90 % of land is projected to be significantly altered by 2050. 
  • 1 million of plants and animal species out of an estimated total of 8.1 million species are at risk of extinction.

Nature is contributing to people’s wellbeing, but these contributions are not always considered. Larigauderie and IPBES list examples of nature services to us:

Environmental processes: 

  • habitat creation and maintenance
  • Pollination and dispersal of seeds 
  • Regulation of air quality
  • Regulation of climate
  • Regulation of ocean acidification
  • Regulation of freshwater quantity, location and timing
  • Regulation of freshwater quality and coastal water quality
  • Formation, protection and decontamination of soils and sediments
  • Regulation of hazards and extreme events
  • Regulation of detrimental organisms and biological processes

Assistance:

  • Energy
  • Food and feed
  • Materials and resources
  • Medicine, biochemical and genetic resources

Non-material services: 

  • Learning and inspiration 
  • Physical and psychological experiences
  • Supporting identities
  • Maintenance of options

Find the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services here

 

Contributing experts also from Bergen 

The IPBES assess knowledge provided by scientists all over the world. The global assessment report is based on a large number of published articles and contributing authors. Published science and contributing authors are ,of course, also to be found in Bergen. 

Is there an expertlist on nature, nature loss and sustainability? Yes, there is – find it here (in Norwegian)