Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

[11] It is the first United Nations report on the global state of biodiversity since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published in 2005.

Nothing in today’s headlines compares to the catastrophic potential posed by climate change and the decimating effects of careless consumerism around the globe."

The Report examined the rate of decline in biodiversity and found that the adverse effects of human activities on the world's species is "unprecedented in human history":[14] one million species, including 40 percent of amphibians, almost a third of reef-building corals, more than a third of marine mammals, and 10 percent of all insects are threatened with extinction.

[10] In the past 50 years, the world's human population has doubled,[20][12] per capita gross domestic product has quadrupled,[21] and biodiversity has suffered a catastrophic decline.

[22] Most notably, tropical forests have been cleared for cattle pastures in South America and for oil-palm plantations in Southeast Asia.

[16][27] Some 300–400 million metric tons (660–880 billion lb) of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge, and other wastes per year enter the water cycle from industrial facilities.

Finally, even the lower warming levels of 1.5–2 °C (2.7–3.6 °F) would "profoundly" reduce geographical ranges of the majority of the world's species, thus making them more vulnerable then they would have been otherwise.

[24] The Report warned that society should not fixate on economic growth,[29][30] and that countries should "base their economies on an understanding that nature is the foundation for development.

[32] Restoring the sovereignty of indigenous populations around the world is also suggested, as their lands have seen lower rates of biodiversity loss.