Knowledge gaps
Introduction
One of the main functions of IPBES consists in strengthening the knowledge foundations, to promote the generation of new knowledge and management of data on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Therefore, IPBES undertakes to catalyse the generation of new knowledge by making the knowledge gaps identified in completed IPBES assessments known, and promote their uptake by relevant organizations that programme and fund biodiversity research.
This web page currently presents the knowledge gaps identified within the following assessments:
- IPBES Assessment of Invasive Alien Species
- IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
- IPBES Regional Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Africa
- IPBES Regional Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Americas
- IPBES Regional Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Asia and the Pacific
- IPBES Regional Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Europe and Central Asia
The list below contains, for each gap, references to the corresponding chapters, sections and pages of the assessment reports.
Categories of knowledge gaps
Disclaimers
Global Assessment: A table of knowledge gaps was prepared by the experts of the Global Assessment and presented to and considered by a working group established by the Plenary at its seventh session. The Plenary did not approve this table as part of the summary for policymakers. It is therefore included in draft form, which does not imply working group or Plenary approval. This table is reproduced from appendix 4 of the Summary for Policymakers of the Global Assessment, with the addition of references to specific sections in the chapters or to the SPM.
Regional Assessments (Africa, Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia): The Plenary did not approve the table of gaps as part of the assessments. They were prepared by the technical support unit on knowledge and data.
ID | Knowledge gaps | Assessment sub-chapter | Category | Page(s) | Container | Assessment report | Chapter |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
58954 | Data on the impacts of climate change on marine and coastal governance regimes |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 922, 923 | global_chapter6 | |||
58955 | g) Data on the comparative effectiveness of different models of marine governance relating to conservation |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 920 | global_chapter6 | |||
58956 | Better data to develop biodiversity and environmental quality standards |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 931 | global_chapter6 | |||
58957 | Data on areas of uncertainty in applying the precautionary principle |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 948, 949 | global_chapter6 | |||
58958 | c) Data on the comparative effectiveness of different processes of access and benefit sharing to ensure fairness and equity |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58959 | Data on extinction risks and population trends, especially for insects, parasites and fungal and microbial species |
Observation - Data & monitoring | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58960 | Data on the extent of the participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in environmental governance |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58961 | Data on the impacts of mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58962 | Data on the impacts of war and conflict on nature and nature’s contributions to people |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58963 | Data to analyse the effectiveness of many policy options and interventions, including: |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58964 | Extinction risks and population trends for the following taxonomic groups: insects, fungal species, microbial species (microorganisms) and parasites |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58965 | Indicators on the impacts of environmentally harmful subsidies and trends and effectiveness of their removal at the global level |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58966 | Inventories in soil, benthic and freshwater environments, and the implications for ecosystem functions |
Observation - Data & monitoring | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58967 | More comprehensive understanding of how human-caused changes to any Essential Biodiversity Variable class (e.g., ecosystem structure) have impacts on others (e.g., community composition) and on nature’s contributions to people |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58968 | Need for indicators for some Sustainable Development Goals and Aichi Biodiversity Targets (e.g., Aichi Biodiversity Target 15 on ecosystem resilience and contribution of biodiversity to carbon stocks and Target 18 on integration of traditional knowledge and effective participation of indigenous and local communities.) |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58969 | Quantitative data showing how nature, its contributions to people, and good quality of life interact and change in time along different pathways |
Projections - Modeling & scenarios | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58970 | Scenarios about nonmaterial benefits to people compared to material benefits and regulating benefits |
Projections - Modeling & scenarios | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58971 | Syntheses of how human impacts affect organismal traits and global patterns and trends in genetic composition |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58972 | Syntheses of indigenous and local knowledge about the status and trends in nature |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 59, 60 | global_spm | |||
58973 | The Amazon is responsible for delivering all sorts of ecosystem services, despite essential gaps in the scientific literature (Pires et al., 2018) |
Observation - Data & monitoring | 120 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58974 | To better understand and quantify interaction of all the processes involved, future monitoring and research is needed (Macias-Fauria et al., 2020) |
Observation - Data & monitoring | 121 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58975 | Despite growing awareness of the linkages between biodiversity loss and climate change, we still lack a full understanding of how social issues, particularly inter- and intra-generational equity, are affected by interventions to mitigate climate change or to conserve biodiversity (Halpern and Fujita, 2013; Zafra-Calvo et al., 2019). |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 32 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58976 | The linkages between biodiversity, climate and social issues can have significant implications for the effectiveness of policies designed to address them, with outcomes that can be co-detrimental, display strong or weak trade-offs, or even deliver co-benefits (see Section 6). |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 32 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58977 | The fate of the extra captured carbon is unknown, including potentially harmful disruption in the marine food web (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2019. |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 56 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58978 | Marine ice loss in the Arctic has many consequences in addition to these. The net outcome of changes in primary production in open Arctic waters, loss of benthic production from under-ice algae, loss of pagophilic (ice-dependent) species and lower albedo is as yet unclear so we cannot yet reach any clear conclusions on Arctic mitigation potential (Rogers et al., 2020). |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 63 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58979 | The capacities and limits to adaptation for the vast majority of species are not well known due to lack of sufficient data (Urban et al., 2016; IPBES, 2019; Razgour et al., 2019) |
Observation - Data & monitoring | 72 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58980 | The vast majority of these models do not, however, account for important mechanisms of adaptation (Razgour et al., 2019; Settele et al., 2014). |
Projections - Modeling & scenarios | 72 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58981 | Estimates of non-monetary and indirect benefits of REDD+ are lacking due to a lack of expertise and inadequate information about environmental and biodiversity benefits (Rakatama et al., 2017). |
Observation - Data & monitoring | 101 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58982 | The body of evidence regarding the ability of the adoption of agroecological principles to achieve multiple benefits within agricultural landscapes (including improved conservation) is growing – although research gaps remain (see, for example, Wanger et al. (2020), and their discussion of a research agenda for agroecology). ) |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 104 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58983 | Offsets in particular raise complicated governance questions for both biodiversity and climate, and the effectiveness of regulations of these sectors is unclear. |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 156 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58984 | Many of the ecological SDG goals have lack a focus on ecosystem functions or integrity, as well as insufficient attention to feedbacks (Reyers & Selig, 2020). |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 159 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58985 | Gaps remain, however, in moving beyond theoretical concerns to the design of practical frameworks but are essential to address fragmented legal and governance regimes across multiple governance scales. |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 161 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58986 | Current scenarios used by the IPCC do not differentiate between natural forest regrowth, reforestation with plantations, and afforestation of land not previously tree-covered, which makes assessment of biodiversity impacts difficult and is a knowledge gap that needs to be addressed. |
Projections - Modeling & scenarios | 19 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58987 | Globally, disturbance of previously undisturbed marine sediment carbon through trawling was estimated to release the equivalent of 15 to 20% of atmospheric CO2 absorbed annually by the ocean. Such order of magnitude indicates a knowledge gap on ocean carbon storage capacity to be closed by further research. |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 21 | ws_biodiversity_climate | |||
58988 | Closing critical knowledge gaps on: Key risk behaviours – in global consumption, in rural communities on the frontline of disease emergence, in the private sector, in national governments – that lead to pandemics |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 47 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58989 | Economic analyses of return-on-investment for programmes that reduce the environmental changes that lead to pandemics |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 47 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58990 | Efforts to quantify fine scale hotspots of disease emergence could be supported by donor countries, the WHO and others, to identify regions for enhanced surveillance. |
Observation - Data & monitoring | 48 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58991 | Closing critical knowledge gaps on: undiscovered microbial diversity in wildlife that has potential to emerge in future, or to be used to develop therapeutics or vaccines |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 48 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58992 | Valuing Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ engagement and knowledge in pandemic prevention programs - The development of successful strategies and policies may therefore benefit from collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to bridge the knowledge gap across cultures |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 48 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58993 | Valuing Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ engagement and knowledge in pandemic prevention programmes |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 48 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58994 | National agencies from EID hotspot countries could work with donor countries to fund programs that aim to identify, triage, characterize, and monitor the high-risk microbes in wildlife that have high potential to act as zoonotic reservoirs. |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 48 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58995 | Analyzing trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and disease transmission within landscape conservation and restoration programs - There is a paucity of empirical data on how large-scale conservation programs that restore habitat, create corridors, or otherwise alter landscapes affect disease transmission, despite evidence from limited studies and modelling that they can promote or reduce disease risk. |
Projections - Modeling & scenarios | 49 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58996 | Analyzing EID risk within freshwater and marine ecosystems and analyzing the importance of vector-borne disease risk and migratory species in disease spread |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 49 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58997 | Closing critical knowledge gaps on: how the wildlife trade supply chain alters disease risk, from capture through to market and slaughter, and how this differs depending on diversity of wildlife and livestock, and density of animals in the trade |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 49 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58998 | Improving understanding of the relationship between ecosystem degradation and restoration and landscape structure, and the risk of emergence of disease. |
Understanding - Process & conceptual models | 49 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
58999 | Closing critical knowledge gaps on: analysing the evolutionary underpinnings of host shifts that are involved in zoonotic disease spillover and the adaptation of emerging pathogens to new host species |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 49 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
59000 | Closing critical knowledge gaps on: climate change impacts and related extreme weather events (e.g. flooding and droughts) on disease emergence, to anticipate future threats |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 49 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
59001 | Policies to build knowledge on further incursions of novel diseases or expanding cases of known diseases due to climate change would help drive policy changes to anticipate and reduce further health impacts |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 49 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
59002 | Closing critical knowledge gaps on: OneHealth: knowledge gap on evaluating the framework, trade-offs, barriers to implementation: The promotion of One Health science would provide an overarching mechanism to enable closing of knowledge gaps. This would likely need to begin with transdisciplinary academic training in faculties of medicine, veterinary medicine, public health, and social, ecological and environmental sciences, both in develop and developing countries. |
Solutions - Interventions & policy analysis | 50 | ws_business_biodiversity | |||
69395 | Incomplete or lack of inventories of invasive alien species in marine, tropical and Arctic ecosystems {2.5.2.1, 2.5.2.4, 2.5.2.5, 2.5.4} |
Gaps on biomes, units of analysis and species groups | 164 | Table |