It’s finally here! The long-awaited expert report on the value of biodiversity is now available, and there’s plenty of great information to explore.
Today, after a long and anxious wait, the new IPBES expert opinion on the values of biodiversity is being released. It was produced in collaboration with experts from six Danish universities and is based on the global IPBES report on values, which was published in 2022. The expert report has been two years in the making but now presents 11 action items designed to inspire Danish policymakers and promote a green transition.
Professor Mette Termansen of the Department of Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen, who is the lead author of the expert opinion, speaks positively about the project and the collaboration and expresses hope for the impact of the expert opinion:
I am pleased that we have succeeded in reaching a consensus on the many different values of biodiversity among experts with diverse backgrounds and from so many different institutions. We have done this because the biodiversity crisis is a fundamental challenge for Danish society and for all of us, and because its causes run deep. It is, of course, my hope that policymakers will read our recommendations and act on them.
– Mette Termansen, professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO)
The Urgent Need for Action in Response to the Biodiversity Crisis
The new expert report is a response to the ever-increasing loss of biodiversity both here at home and around the world. The latest reports from IPBES estimate that one in four species classified as threatened with extinction will be gone within just a few decades. Extinction rates among well-known groups of organisms such as mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles are 10 or more hundred times higher than before industrialization and the rapid population and consumption growth of recent centuries. Even common species are declining sharply. The world’s wild animal populations have, across the board, been reduced by as much as three-quarters since 1970, and at the same time, there is a significant and invisible loss of genetic diversity.
On top of all this, IPBES reports a decline in the ecosystem services that underpin the positive benefits humans derive from biodiversity. Of the 18 key benefits of biodiversity identified by IPBES, 14 are currently in decline, many of which are severely affected. This includes climate regulation, soil fertility, and pollination, as well as air and water quality. Overall, the conclusion drawn from all of this is that we are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis.
A major cause of this crisis is that the value of biodiversity is not sufficiently taken into account in, among other things, economic and political decision-making processes. All the consequences of biodiversity loss are often ignored or addressed inadequately. Only when consideration of the value of biodiversity is consistently incorporated into decision-making will it be possible to implement a fundamental and systemic solution to the biodiversity crisis.
There is a growing recognition that human management of the Earth’s resources has led to a dramatic decline in the Earth’s species and biodiversity (IPBES 2019). There is also strong evidence and a growing recognition that this decline has significant consequences.
– IPBES Expert Opinion 2025
Global Values in a Danish Context
In 2022, the global IPBES report on the values of biodiversity, “Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature,” was published. The report proposed a categorization of these values and presented various perspectives on biodiversity. The global IPBES report also provided a compilation and assessment of existing methods and practices regarding the incorporation of these values into primarily economic and political decisions. In this way, the report sought to contribute to an understanding of the barriers that must be overcome and the courses of action that can be implemented to address the biodiversity crisis.
However, this is far from a straightforward task. Carsten Rahbek, chair of the IPBES steering group in Denmark, explains the challenges involved in addressing the causes of the biodiversity crisis as follows:
Although the causes of the biodiversity crisis are well known, it remains a major challenge to incorporate the importance of biodiversity into decision-making processes across sectors and on a scale large enough to reverse the trend. An important step is to establish a common understanding of how these values are perceived. At best, such an understanding could establish a form of consensus or, at the very least, foster understanding and bridge the gap between different viewpoints.
–Carsten Rahbek, professor of biodiversity and chair of the Danish steering committee for IPBES
A good example of this is that one of our primary measures of well-being and progress in Danish society throughout this period has been—and still is—the Danish gross domestic product (GDP). In an economic context, both researchers and government officials have for decades sought to develop green national accounts that account for the losses in value resulting from, among other things, climate change and the loss of biodiversity. However, it is still GDP alone that serves as an indicator of societal development, and that is precisely one of the issues this expert opinion seeks to address.
Mette Termansen summarizes the intent behind the expert group’s work on this issue as follows:
In the expert group, we have sought to propose courses of action for how the various values of biodiversity can be better integrated into decision-making and planning in Danish society. This is because we recognize that a fundamental problem arises when this does not happen. We need to think long-term and systematically to incorporate such fundamental values into our decision-making processes and planning tools.
– Mette Termansen, professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO)
The Value of Biodiversity—A Path Toward a Solution
An overarching biodiversity goal agreed upon by the EU and the UN is that by 2050 we should be living “in harmony with nature.” This specific wording is particularly important, and it is emphasized by Mette Termansen’s explanation of the need for a full understanding and appreciation of biodiversity:
A crucial starting point is that biodiversity is understood and valued, and that this is reflected in societal goals and priorities, in legislation and the government’s regulatory system, and ultimately in our actions.
– Mette Termansen, professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO)
There is no indication that this cannot be achieved in Denmark. To incorporate natural values into the political process, IPBES identifies four levels of value-oriented initiatives—so-called “action points”—that promote transformative change: (1) valuing and recognizing the values of nature, (2) inclusion of nature’s diverse values in decision-making, (3) reform of policies, rights, and laws, and (4) a shift toward sustainable social norms and goals. Taken together, these key commitments underscore that fundamentally changing our perspectives, behaviors, and activities regarding biodiversity is essential if the biodiversity crisis is to be reversed.
The Four Commitments
The four priority areas outlined in the report are based on different perspectives on the value of nature and biodiversity. Together, they form the framework for the 11 proposed courses of action presented in the expert opinion within a Danish context, and which IPBES has compiled with the aim of achieving a societal valuation of nature and biodiversity that will also contribute to the goals at the UN and EU levels.
The policy options presented in the report are considered to be relatively easy to implement in Denmark.
– IPBES Expert Opinion 2025
The most tangible area of action involves making nature’s diverse values—including economic, ecological, cultural, relational, and intrinsic values—visible through valuation. This involves, for example, raising public awareness of nature’s values through education, communication, and outreach, and developing methods to quantify biodiversity’s contribution to human well-being and welfare.
The next step is to ensure that these can be actively incorporated into decision-making—in politics, in the business sector’s investment strategies, and in civil society initiatives. This requires clarifying the principles and methods used to integrate the significance of natural values into the assessment of the impacts of economic and political decisions. Not only is it recommended that nature’s many diverse values be incorporated into green accounting and socioeconomic assessments, but also that, through dialogue and public hearings, efforts be made to ensure that society’s diverse views on nature and biodiversity can be expressed.
This therefore requires a fundamental overhaul of the political and legal frameworks so that the values of nature can become an integral part of society’s structure and dynamics. This entails far-reaching changes to economic instruments—such as subsidy programs and tax rules—that promote innovative thinking, respect the limitations of nature’s resources, protect those values, and ensure long-term sustainability, rather than supporting practices that destroy nature.
Finally, it requires a fundamental shift in the values and norms that shape our economic and political systems. This is not merely a matter of recognizing and institutionalizing the values of nature, but of fundamentally transforming our shared understanding of prosperity and development, so that we can move beyond merely measuring material growth and ignoring the destruction of the natural environment to promoting long-term sustainability, well-being, and collective responsibility.
Read more about the importance of these biodiversity values, examples, and the 11 courses of action in the expert report. It is available here: Danish IPBES Publications – IPBES in DENMARK
