Conference Agenda

Human activities have multifaceted impacts on the terrestrial biosphere, which are rarely measured in terms of the economic value derived from them, and which therefore drives them. This is crucial for green growth transitions aimed at reducing biodiversity loss. Here we employ the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) and the percentage of Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) to define and assess the intensity of production-based biosphere degradation with national economic output. Degradation intensity has roughly halved globally from 1990 to 2010, though variation persists among countries, with higher levels observed in those heavily reliant on agriculture and oriented towards exports of raw materials. These relationships imply that trade imbalances can shift biodiversity degradation intensity from developed to developing economies by up to 50%. Additionally, we examine decoupling rates between economic growth and biosphere degradation, finding that less than half of countries have fully decoupled, primarily those with decreasing agriculture land use and population density, as well as increasing agricultural total factor productivity. Although decoupling rates improved between 1990-2000 and 2000-2010, the percentage achieving absolute decoupling remained largely unchanged.