Professor Mike Christie co-chairs the IPBES values assessment.

A member of Aberystwyth Universities Business School, Professor Mike Christie is a co-chair and co-author of the IPBES values assessment. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (IPBES) is the intergovernmental body, established in response to requests from decision makers, to assess the state of biodiversity and of the “nature’s contribution to people” (NCP) that it provides to society.

In 2018, IPBES published four regional assessments, including the European and Central Asia (ECA) Assessment, a comprehensive assessment of the status and trends in biodiversity and NCP in the ECA region. Evidence indicates that biodiversity continues to decline, which is having a negative impact on people’s welfare. Key drivers for this decline include: land use change; climate change; natural resource extraction, pollution and invasive alien species; and the lack of decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation. The ECA assessment also explores various scenarios and policy options that need to be adopted to protect the natural environment and enhance human well-being.

The latest IPBES report highlights the importance of “adopting integrated management and cross-sectoral approaches that take into account the trade-offs of food and energy production, infrastructure, freshwater and coastal management, and biodiversity conservation” in order to safeguard the rapidly declining biodiversity and ecosystem services for the future.