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TWN
Info Service on Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge (Oct25/02) Transformative change to stop the biodiversity crisis We are pleased to share a new briefing paper, Transform, not reform: Transformative change to stop the biodiversity crisis, which highlights the need to directly confront the root causes of biodiversity destruction, through transformative change. The paper draws on two recent major IPBES assessments – the Transformative Change Assessment and the Nexus Assessment – that offer key insights as to why states continue to fall short of biodiversity goals. The Transformative Change Assessment emphasizes three key underlying causes of biodiversity destruction: a) disconnection from and domination over nature and people; b) concentrated power and wealth; and c) prioritization of short-term, individual, and material gains. Vested interests, backed by substantial financial and political power, maintain these structures, often co-opting or neutralizing attempts to enact change. One of the key reasons efforts have fallen short is the overriding emphasis on reforming – rather than fundamentally changing – dominant systems. Responses which “tinker at the edges” often end up legitimizing, entrenching, or even expanding the very systems that drive biodiversity destruction. A common pattern is the treatment of biodiversity destruction as a technical issue, understood as a problem of inadequate information or institution or to be fixed with new market mechanisms or blended finance, rather than a crisis rooted in social, economic, and political systems. The Transformative Change Assessment highlights how global power imbalances, especially in the international monetary and financial system, exacerbate structural inequalities. These dynamics, including disparities within and between income-rich and income-poor countries, further entrench inequalities. Addressing biodiversity destruction thus requires confronting underlying drivers such as the global debt architecture, transnational tax regime, and trade agreements. Without the transformation of these dominant economic and financial paradigms, achieving biodiversity goals will remain out of reach. The Nexus Assessment goes as far as to say that strategies not traditionally focused on or explicitly aimed at biodiversity, such as transforming economic and financial systems, can often yield greater biodiversity benefits than conservation measures designed for that purpose. In line with the Nexus Assessment’s call for coordinated and systemic action, the most effective way to address biodiversity destruction and interconnected crises is to confront the underlying structural constraints that cut across sectors and crises. This requires curbing the power of corporate actors, financial elites, and the governments that enable them, while redistributing power to those most affected by ecological collapse, including Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and other rights-holders. The scale and interconnected nature of the crises demand a focus on interventions that disrupt structural inequalities and are capable of shifting power relations. This requires real mechanisms for redistribution, such as through tax and debt justice, democratizing economic institutions and credit rating agencies, and payments for ecological debts. These efforts must also firmly uphold land rights, curb the concentration and financialization of the food system, and actively dismantle the extractive logics embedded in global trade and investment regimes. With
best wishes,
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