The IPBES “Nexus Report” shows that biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate must be addressed together. Norwegian municipalities can play a key role.
In December 2024, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released one of its most ambitious reports ever: Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health – known as the Nexus Report. Over three years, 165 experts from 57 countries examined how biodiversity loss, water crises, food insecurity, health risks, and climate change reinforce one another. The conclusion is as clear as it is alarming: addressing these crises separately rather than in an integrated way is not only insufficient – it can make matters worse.
Silo thinking leads to poorer outcomes
The report shows that more than half of the world’s population lives in areas facing significant simultaneous pressures on nature, water, food, and health. Fragmented governance, where sectors operate in isolation, leads to conflicting goals and unintended consequences. A narrow focus on food production, for example, may increase food availability but at the same time accelerate biodiversity loss and the depletion of water resources. Similarly, climate measures that fail to consider biodiversity can create new problems for ecosystems and food systems.
Many of the drivers of environmental problems are shared across biodiversity, food, water, health, and climate change. For instance, land-use change is a driver of both biodiversity loss and climate change. The report also highlights that around $7 trillion is invested globally each year in activities that harm nature—far more than is spent on protecting it.
71 solutions with cross-cutting benefits
However, the report is not just a document of crisis. It identifies 71 concrete policy options that can deliver positive outcomes across biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate. Many of these are relatively low-cost to implement: agroecology, ecosystem restoration, sustainable diets, and nature-based solutions. Scenario analyses show that the most favorable futures are those that combine sustainable production and consumption with the conservation and restoration of nature.
Relevant for Norwegian local governance
Professor Siri Eriksen at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) is a co-author of the report, contributing to chapters on financing and integrated solutions. She has presented the findings to Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment and the Environment Agency, emphasizing the report’s relevance for Norway.
“Although the report addresses global interlinkages, the analyses are highly relevant for Norwegian local governance. Norwegian municipalities manage natural resources, water, public health, and land use, and the same connections we describe globally play out at the local level,” Eriksen emphasizes.
“It is crucial that the report’s content, and especially its proposed solutions, become known and tested in Norway. Many of the 71 measures can and must be adapted locally, such as nature-based solutions for stormwater management, integrated land-use planning, and cross-sectoral coordination within municipalities.”
Professor Eriksen is therefore very pleased that the Centre for Climate-Resilient Development (KRED), which she leads, together with a larger team of researchers at NMBU, has received funding from the Research Council of Norway to explore these possibilities in collaboration with the six Follo municipalities surrounding NMBU.