IPBES highlights the threat against biodiversity and receives the WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award 2020

The WIN WIN Award ceremony took place in Gothenburg on 22 October and Marie Stenseke, Professor in Human Geography, Deputy Dean at the School of Business, Economics and Law, and Co-chair of the IPBES multidisciplinary expert panel, was there to receive the award.

- It is great, but also important that IPBES gets attention. It helps to create awareness of the serious situation of the world's biodiversity, and how our negative impact on other species and their habitats, has made our existence more vulnerable. The ongoing pandemic is an example of this. IPBES has succeeded in bringing up biodiversity, alongside the climate issue on the agendas of many decision-makers, thanks to scientifically sound reports, which also show opportunities to steer towards a sustainable future, says Marie Stenseke.

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The world’s leading sustainability award aims to recognize and support outstanding contributions from around the world. The goal is to stimulate creativity and achieve lasting synergies in the quest to find the right balance between ecological, environmental and social needs. The award has been presented in Gothenburg since 2000. Every year has different themes and this year the theme is biodiversity.

The jury explains selecting IPBES for this year’s award as follows

”The biodiversity on Earth is crucial to human survival and the need to raise the issue on the agenda for the world’s decision makers to a corresponding level is therefore great and urgent. The work to disseminate knowledge and awareness of the importance of biodiversity is therefore of crucial importance.

IPBES has had a decisive role in outlining the drivers of biodiversity loss, communicating the magnitude of the problem and laying the groundwork for a new agenda and transformative change in relation to biodiversity. Through their methodology, which includes research in both natural and social science as well as including the importance of indigenous peoples’ knowledge and experience, they have increased the opportunities for evidence-based decision making by policymakers. Since its inception in 2012, by engaging and uniting the world’s nations around the issue of biodiversity, IPBES has played a crucial role in setting the groundwork for the change we need to address this crisis in the near future.”