Systemic risks arising from escalating biodiversity loss
Biodiversity is critical for maintaining current and future ecosystem service supply and continued loss increases risks of collapses in capacity as stresses such as climate change build.

The global commons include the atmosphere, ice sheets, a stable climate, biodiversity and even space. What is their current state and how can they be protected?
DOI: https://doi.org/10.58248/HS25
The global commons are defined by the UN as those areas that fall outside of national jurisdictions and to which all have access.1,2 To incorporate the potential for overuse by some at the expense of others they can also include the atmosphere, land, ocean, ice sheets, a stable climate and biodiversity.3 Globalisation and the increasing interconnectedness of nations have created an array of new challenges for governing the natural environment. There is increasing evidence for the harm to oceans, forests and polar regions that arise from climate change, biodiversity loss, and plastics,4 pharmaceutical and other waste.5 Several treaties exist that seek to protect the global commons against environmental harms from human interference, and the landmark UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a global effort to foster prosperity while equitably managing environmental and wider social risks.6 In its 2020 SDG progress report, however, the UN noted that global efforts to date have made insufficient progress, and that deterioration of the natural environment was an area in which progress has been particularly poor.7 In addition to the cooperation of states, the role of multinational corporations in environmental degradation is also coming under increasing scrutiny, with evidence that the power of a small number of corporations are central to global environmental change.8
Another increasingly prominent area outside the boundaries of state sovereignty is space activity – both close to Earth as well as out to other planets and bodies. There are increasing concerns around the impact of human activity in these places.9 Near-Earth activity is critical to the normal functioning of technological systems such as GPS and global communications, as well as the Earth observation systems used for a wide range of research. As an increasing number of private actors participate in space activity, concerns focus on the potential danger of space debris that could interfere with operations. Space activity is currently governed under the UN Outer Space Treaty.10
High impact and high likelihood in the next five years
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Biodiversity is critical for maintaining current and future ecosystem service supply and continued loss increases risks of collapses in capacity as stresses such as climate change build.
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