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IPBES Nexus assessment urges integrated, actionable solutions linking biodiversity, food, water, health and climate
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Summary
IPBES co‑chair Pamela McElwee summarized the Nexus assessment’s three main messages: systemic problems require integrated solutions already available, capacity for interdisciplinary assessments must expand, and assessment processes should include Indigenous and early‑career researchers.
Pamela McElwee, co‑chair of the IPBES Nexus assessment, presented the assessment’s conclusion that biodiversity, food, water, health and climate challenges are interconnected and that many integrated solutions already exist and can be implemented now.
McElwee said the assessment team included 165 scientists from more than 60 countries and that the report—scoped in 2019 and approved by member governments in late 2024—explicitly set out to provide tangible solutions rather than only diagnose problems.
“Our first key message is that the crises we face are interconnected, but our solutions are not,” McElwee said. The assessment documents more than 70 coordinated, integrated solutions that could be deployed at relatively low cost, she added, and stresses the need to finance and enable interministerial cooperation.
McElwee said IPBES adopted a deliberate approach to include Indigenous knowledge systems, social scientists, practitioners, and early‑career fellows in the assessment process. The assessment also devotes extensive space to institutional processes: how to build capacities, change governance and create enduring interdisciplinary institutions that can take integrated action.
Audience questions addressed bioregionalism and training for interdisciplinary work. McElwee said the assessment used case studies and emphasized context dependence: solutions must be adapted to local bioregional enablers and barriers and should not be one‑size‑fits‑all.
She also recommended participation in assessments (IPBES, IPCC and similar) as a route to build interdisciplinary skills and networks for early‑career researchers.
