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[Target Audience: 10 years and older]
Quiz game!
Q1: Regarding the critical environmental issues of climate change and biodiversity loss, which of the following best describes the situation before the establishment of IPBES?
Q2: What does "nature's contributions to people" (NCP) encompass?
Answers:
Q1: Regarding the critical environmental issues of climate change and biodiversity loss, which of the following best describes the situation before the establishment of IPBES?
Answer: 2 . Biodiversity loss had received less attention than climate change.
Despite being a critical environmental issue for a long time, biodiversity loss did not receive as much attention as climate change. IPBES, established in 2012, positioned biodiversity loss as an issue with the same urgency and priority as climate change.
Q2: What does "nature's contributions to people" (NCP) encompass?
Answer: 3. Both the positive and negative impact that nature brings to humans
NCP is similar to ecosystem services, which refer to the benefits that humans receive from nature. However, NCP differs in that it encompasses not only positive aspects such as food provision and water purification, but also negative aspects such as disease transmission and predation.
Important points!
Due to the expansion of human activities, biodiversity loss has been rapidly accelerating and has reached a critical state.
Through the activities of IPBES, efforts to address biodiversity loss have come to receive attention comparable to that of climate change.
More details
Nature's Contributions to People (NCP) and Ecosystem Services
As mentioned in the main text, nature's contributions to people (NCP), as it is described in IPBES reports, refers to all the effects that nature has on humans, including both positive and negative aspects. In contrast, ecosystem services defined in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) as the benefits people obtain from ecosystems have become a widely recognized concept.
As shown in the table below, however, NCP and ecosystem services largely correspond to each other and are fundamentally similar concepts.
| No. | Nature's Contributions to People (NCP) | Ecosystem Services | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Category | Classification | Category | |
| 1 | Regulating contributions from nature | Habitat creation and maintenance | Supporting/Habitat services | Lifecycle maintenance |
| 2 | Pollination and dispersal of seeds and other propagules | Regulating services | Pollination | |
| 3 | Regulation of air quality | Air purification | ||
| 4 | Regulation of climate | Climate regulation (incl. C-sequestration) | ||
| 5 | Regulation of ocean acidification | － | ||
| 6 | Regulation of freshwater quantity, location, and timing | Regulation of water flows | ||
| 7 | Regulation of freshwater quality and coastal water quality | Waste treatment (esp.water purification) | ||
| 8 | Formation, protection, and decontamination of soils and sediments | Maintenance of soil fertility (incl. soil formation) and nutrient cycling, erosion prevention | ||
| 9 | Regulation of hazards and extreme events | Disturbance prevention or moderation, erosion prevention | ||
| 10 | Regulation of detrimental organisms and biological processes | Biological control | ||
| 11 | Material contributions from nature | Energy | Provisioning services | Raw materials |
| 12 | Food and feed | Food, water, raw materials | ||
| 13 | Materials and assistance | Raw materials, ornamental resources | ||
| 14 | Medicinal, biochemical, and genetic resources | Genetic resources, medicinal resources | ||
| 15 | Non-material contributions from nature | Learning and inspiration | Cultural & Amenity services | Aesthetic information, Recreation and tourism, Inspiration for culture, art, and design, Spiritual experience, Information for cognitive development |
| 16 | Physical and psychological experiences | |||
| 17 | Supporting identities | |||
| 18 | － | Maintenance of options* | Supporting/Habitat services | Gene pool protection |
*Maintenance of future options (NCP 18) conveys the diverse dimensions of potential opportunities offered by nature and spans all three NCP groups.
This table was created by the Asahi Glass Foundation based on the following references.
1) IPBES (2019), Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
2) Edited by P. Kumar (2012), The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Ecological and Economic Foundations (Routledge)
The main differences between NCP and ecosystem services are that NCP considers not only positive contributions but also negative contributions, and places greater emphasis on perspectives rooted in cultural backgrounds and diverse worldviews. IPBES assesses biodiversity and NCP based on multiple knowledge systems, including not only scientific knowledge but also indigenous and local knowledge, providing a foundation for policymaking, decision-making, and action.