Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform Research Articles

Equity and justice should underpin the discourse on tipping points

Abstract. Radical and quick transformations towards sustainability will be fundamental to achieving a more sustainable future. However, deliberate interventions to reconfigure systems will result in winners and losers, with the potential for greater or lesser equity and justice outcomes. Positive tipping points (PTPs) have been proposed as interventions in complex systems with the aim to (a) reduce the likelihood of negative Earth system tipping points and/or (b) increase the likelihood of achieving just social foundations. However, many narratives around PTPs often do not take into account the entire spectrum of impacts the proposed alternatives could have or still rely on narratives that maintain current unsustainable behaviours and marginalize many people (i.e. do not take “b” into account). One such example is the move from petrol-based to electric vehicles. An energy transition that remains based on natural resource inputs from the Global South must be unpacked with an equity and justice lens to understand the true cost of this transition. There are two arguments why a critical engagement with these and other similar proposals needs to be made. First, the idea of transitioning through a substitution (e.g. of fuel) while maintaining the system structure (e.g. of private vehicles) may not necessarily be conceived as the kind of radical transformation being called for by global scientific bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Second, and probably more importantly, the question of positive for whom, positive where, and positive how must be considered. In this paper, we unpack these narratives using a critical decolonial view from the south and outline their implications for the concept of tipping points.

Mining threats in high-level biodiversity conservation policies.

Amid a global infrastructure boom, there is increasing recognition of the ecological impacts of the extraction and consumption of construction minerals, mainly processed as concrete, including significant and expanding threats to global biodiversity. We investigated how high-level national and international biodiversity conservation policies address mining threats, with a special focus on construction minerals. We conducted a review and quantified the degree to which threats from mining these minerals are addressed in biodiversity goals and targets under the 2011-2020 and post-2020 biodiversity strategies, national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and the assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Mining appeared rarely in national targets but more frequently in national strategies. Yet, in most countries, it was superficially addressed. Coverage of aggregates mining was greater than coverage of limestone mining. We outline 8 key components, tailored for a wide range of actors, to effectively mainstream biodiversity conservation into the extractive, infrastructure, and construction sectors. Actions include improving reporting and monitoring systems, enhancing the evidence base around mining impacts on biodiversity, and modifying the behavior of financial agents and businesses. Implementing these measures could pave the way for a more sustainable approach to construction mineral use and safeguard biodiversity.

Evaluation of Honey Bees within the Scope of Sustainable Development Goals and Ecosystem Services

Beekeeping is one of the significant activities that contribute to sustainability in environmental, social, and economic aspects. Honeybees provide multifaceted contributions to humanity, with 90% attributed to pollination services and 10% to bee products (honey, propolis, wax, etc.). The preservation of these services plays a key role in achieving ecological and economic sustainability, ensuring a healthy future for human life. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) under the United Nations, more than 80 million beehives contribute to an estimated annual honey production of 1.6 million tons. Honeybees can travel distances ranging from 600 meters to 11.3 kilometers to pollinate in bee forests. The bee products obtained from these areas provide income sources for forest communities, supporting sustainable development. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), one-third of global food production relies on pollination services by bees. Pollination services are critical for maintaining food security and increasing agricultural productivity. These services create a significant impact on biodiversity support, landscape diversification, enrichment of forest cover, and expansion of wildlife habitats, as well as erosion control—effects that are often imperceptible to humans. Bees contribute to human well-being and cultural sustainability by providing food, medicine, genetic resources, and related materials. The ecosystem services provided by bees make substantial contributions to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including No Poverty (SDG1), Zero Hunger (SDG2), Good Health and Well-being (SDG3), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG7), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG8), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12), Climate Action (SDG13), and Life on Land (SDG15). This study discusses the importance of beekeeping and bee products in terms of ecosystem services for sustainable development and addresses environmental risks.

Why nature matters: A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values.

In this article, we present results from a literature review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values of nature conducted for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as part of the Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuations of Nature. We identify the most frequently recurring meanings in the heterogeneous use of different value types and their association with worldviews and other key concepts. From frequent uses, we determine a core meaning for each value type, which is sufficiently inclusive to serve as an umbrella over different understandings in the literature and specific enough to help highlight its difference from the other types of values. Finally, we discuss convergences, overlapping areas, and fuzzy boundaries between different value types to facilitate dialogue, reduce misunderstandings, and improve the methods for valuation of nature's contributions to people, including ecosystem services, to inform policy and direct future research.

Re-evaluating international humanitarian law in a triple planetary crisis: New challenges, new tools

AbstractIn the face of the triple planetary crisis, which includes climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, there is growing recognition that the environment needs to be re-evaluated and better protected. Recent developments, such as a values assessment by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES),1 the concept of biocultural rights and the acknowledgment of granting rights to nature, emphasize the intrinsic value of the environment and endorse the understanding of the interconnectedness between humans and non-human entities. These developments are also increasingly evident in legal frameworks; for instance, several domestic legal systems now accept the rights of nature and grant legal standing to natural entities. This expansion in our understanding of the environment challenges the traditional anthropocentric focus of international law, which has primarily prioritized human rights and interests, perceiving humans as having dominance over nature and the liberty to harness its resources. Simultaneously, international environmental law is increasingly recognizing the interdependence of ecosystems and species. This acknowledgment drives the promotion of approaches to environmental management and conservation that centre around ecosystems and local communities. The present article looks at how to reconcile these heightened environmental values and the legal norms in armed conflict by examining two examples: the safeguarding of protected areas and the restoration of the environment post-conflict. By analyzing the changing values and legal developments in this area, the article offers legal and practical tools to support the protection of nature's intrinsic value in future warfare.

Knowledge coproduction to improve assessments of nature's contributions to people.

Sustainability science needs new approaches to produce, share, and use knowledge because there are major barriers to translating research into policy and practice. Multiple actors hold relevant knowledge for sustainability including indigenous and local people who have developed over generations knowledge, methods, and practices that biodiversity and ecosystem assessments need to capture. Despite efforts to mainstream knowledge coproduction, less than 3% of the literature on nature's contributions to people (NCP) integrates indigenous and local knowledge (ILK). Approaches and tools to better integrate scientific and ILK knowledge systems in NCP assessments are urgently needed. To fill this gap, we conducted interviews with ILK experts from Abancay and Tamburco, Peru, and convened focus groups and workshops during which participatory mapping, a serious game, a Bayesian belief network based on ILK were introduced. We inventoried 60 medicinal plants used to treat different illnesses, and analyzed the spatial distribution of the 7 plants that contribute the most to a good quality of life, and delineated their nonmedicinal uses. Based on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services conceptual framework, we defined dimensions of a good quality of life according to indigenous and local worldviews. Medicinal plants contributed strongly to health and household security, among other contributions. Climate change and overexploitation were the main perceived threats to medicinal plants, despite the existence of formal and customary institutions to regulate trade. Our approach was flexible enough to integrate diverse forms of knowledge, as well as qualitative and quantitative information from, for example, the Bayesian belief network.

Using the Nature Futures Framework as a lens for developing plural land use scenarios for Europe for 2050

Ambitious international targets are being developed to protect and restore biodiversity under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and the European Union’s Green Deal. Yet, the land system consequences of meeting such targets are unclear, as multiple pathways may be able to deliver on the set targets. This paper introduces a novel scenario approach assessing the plural implementations of these targets. The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) developed by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services aims to illustrate the different, positive ways in which society can value nature. It therefore offers a lens through which the spatial implementation of sustainability targets may be envisioned. We used CLUMondo, a spatially explicit model, to simulate plural land system scenarios for Europe for 2050. The model builds on current land system representations of Europe and explores how and where sustainability targets can be implemented under projected population trends and commodity demands. We created three different scenarios in which the sustainability targets are met, each representing an alternative, normative view on nature as represented by the NFF, favoring land systems providing strong climate regulation (Nature for Society), species conservation (Nature for Nature), or agricultural heritage features (Nature as Culture). Our results show that, irrespective of the NFF view, meeting sustainability targets will require European land systems to drastically change, as natural grasslands and forests are forecast to expand while productive areas are projected to undergo a dual intensification and diversification trajectory. Despite each NFF perspective showcasing a similar direction of change, 20% of Europe's land area will differ based on the adopted NFF perspective, with hotspots of disagreement identified in eastern and western Europe. These simulations go beyond existing scenario approaches by not only depicting broad societal developments for Europe, but also by quantifying the land system synergies and trade-offs associated with alternative, archetypal, interpretations and values of how nature may be managed for sustainability. This quantification exemplifies a means towards constructive dialogue, on the one hand by acknowledging areas of contention, and bringing such issues to the fore, and on the other by highlighting points of convergence in a vision for a sustainable Europe.

Mapping the shared socio-economic pathways onto the Nature Futures Framework at the global scale

AbstractThe Nature Futures Framework (NFF) was developed for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to explore scenarios that represent a diversity of positive relationships between humans and nature. Widely used in global environmental assessments, the shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) in combination with the representative concentration pathways (RCPs) were developed for climate change assessments. However, the relationship at a global level between the SSP–RCP scenario outcomes and the framing of the NFF around three value perspectives—Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture—has not been established. Here, we demonstrate a method to map onto the NFF value perspectives results from alternative SSP scenarios, each paired with an RCP consistent with the SSP storyline. For each of the NFF value perspectives, multiple elements were identified, each represented by one or more nature-focused indicators. Values for these indicators, for the different SSP scenario outcomes, were derived from an existing application of a global land system model, LandSyMM. A score for each indicator is estimated by comparing the indicator values against a normative target range. We find that only SSP1 provides greater benefits for Nature as Culture and Nature for Society relative to a 2010 baseline. Overall, the SSP scenarios provide fewer benefits for Nature for Nature, consistent with a bias towards the provision of material over non-material ecosystem services. The results demonstrate that the SSP–RCP scenario framing captures some, but not all, of the dimensions of nature and that alternative scenario framings, such as the NFF, are needed to study a broader range of biodiversity and ecosystem related questions as well as exploring positive futures.

Twitter Mining for Detecting Interest Trends on Biodiversity: Messages from Seven Language Communities

The recent rates of global change in nature are unprecedented in human history. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has proposed a framework to achieve transformative change. Transformative change with respect to nature will be driven by recognizing the values people have; making inclusive decisions based on these values; restructuring policies, rights, and regulations in accordance with them; and transforming social norms and goals that can drive change. Social media is a new source of information and a modern tool for monitoring public opinion on human–nature interactions. This study identified commonalities among seven language communities (the six official languages of the United Nations and the Japanese language), demonstrating the uniqueness of the Japanese community by comparing hashtags in tweets that include the term biodiversity and determining differences in interest and concern about biodiversity from the past to the present. Tweets accessible at the end of 2021 that focus on biodiversity were collected from the Twitter server and used to form a text dataset. Interest was then qualitatively and quantitatively identified using natural language processing technology. Engagements and diversity indices were found to be on the rise in all language communities. We found that the Japanese language community has a different perspective on the relationship between biodiversity and humans from the scope of the IPBES conceptual framework. Future work should examine the relationship between passion for biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, collaboration with various people around the world is necessary to understand the concept of biodiversity in different traditions and cultures.

Operationalizing the Nature Futures Framework for ecological infrastructure

AbstractScenarios are useful for considering development pathways under different future conditions. To manage a functioning ecological infrastructure (EI) as a network of natural and semi-natural habitats that can promote biodiversity and provide nature’s contributions to people (NCPs), one needs to understand future biophysical and socio-economic influences on its development. However, scenarios often do not incorporate the reciprocity of biophysical and societal changes. This has prompted new proposals from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on the importance of creating nature-centered multiscale scenarios that include a normative dimension accounting for diverse human–nature relationships. In this contribution, we operationalize the Nature Futures Framework (NFF), developed under IPBES, into integrated normative and exploratory scenarios framing the development of a functioning EI in Switzerland until 2060. We follow a two-stage participatory approach methodologically aligned with the IPBES development. First, we elaborated positive visions for future EI with stakeholders in four regions of Switzerland. We then collaborated with experts to create integrated normative and exploratory scenarios through a process comprising literature research, workshops and a survey. By positioning status quo and future scenarios within the Nature Futures Framework, we demonstrate the diversity of nature values in a specific context of EI in Switzerland, thus contributing to the global set of Nature Futures scenarios. Integrating both plausible and desirable developments, these scenarios will serve as a valuable tool in the planning of long-term measures to ensure a functioning EI in Switzerland.

A conceptual approach to developing biodiversity informatics as a field of science in South Africa

In South Africa, as in other parts of the world, Biodiversity Informatics (BDI) has been identified as a young field of science that lies at the nexus of several disciplines, including informatics, biology and mathematics/statistics. Being such a new and dynamic field, there are challenges in the recruitment, training and retention of personnel that can support inter alia the mobilisation, management, coordination, and utilisation of biodiversity information for key conservation and biodiversity outcomes. The lack of human capital also place at risk the implementation of (e.g.) the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and hinders attainment of the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 framework targets. There is a clear demand for broad efforts to build human capital in the field. Using our experiences in South Africa, we provide a framework for establishing BDI as a field of science in developing countries and look at the potential building blocks towards this broad objective, including the need and requirements for the establishment of a Centre for BDI. We explore this concept against a backdrop of the South African government’s 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation, and the associated Decadal Plan, both developed under the auspices of the Department of Science and Innovation. We also reflect on efforts in the broader landscape to look at the establishment of BDI curricula.

Risky business: Protecting nature, protecting wealth?

AbstractFinance is a precondition for many of the activities that harm ecosystems, but how to address this underlying driver of biodiversity loss remains a topic of debate. This paper reviews the Task Force on Nature‐Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), a corporate‐led effort that aims to identify how changes to biodiversity may create financial risks for companies and investors. This approach is also promoted as a strategy for managing the impact of business on biodiversity, with the assumption that risk disclosure will more effectively price biodiversity‐harming activities. We assess the potential of the TNFD toward this end, and invite conservation scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to engage critically with its theory of change. We find that the relationship between disclosing biodiversity risk and redirecting finance away from environmental degradation is tenuous and unproven, making this mechanism insufficient for addressing the impact of the financial sector on nature. We question the embrace of another industry‐led mechanism that implies that a lack of information is the greatest barrier to stopping biodiversity loss. Further, there are risks that this financial sector approach to biodiversity will reinforce the highly unequal concentration of power and wealth, which is itself inimical to transformative change, as called for by the Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

Engaging diverse experts in the global science-policy interface: Learning experiences from the process of the IPBES Values Assessment

This longitudinal study explores evidence of learning and reflexivity among experts involved in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Values Assessment from 2018 to 2022. As part of an online survey administered at yearly intervals, experts self-reported their views on: i) the aims they attributed to the Values Assessment, ii) their epistemic worldviews, iii) the definition of the multiple values of nature, and iv) their personal learning experiences in the assessment process. The represented epistemic worldviews corresponded to Constructivist, Transformative, Pragmatist, and Post-positivist. Across the three surveys, 59% of the respondents shifted their epistemic worldviews. However, these same experts did not change their core perspectives regarding the motivation behind the Values Assessment. At the same time, experts holding a Post-positivist worldview came to express more engagement-inclined themes and openness to dialogue with diverse knowledge systems. While enhanced reflexivity stimulated overall learning, cutting across all learning dimensions, it was itself a multilayered learning outcome. This study illustrates how diverse experts critically reflected and changed their own underlying assumptions during the inter- and transdisciplinary process of the Values Assessment. It further reveals that learning experiences in the Values Assessment were embedded in epistemic worldviews and connected to cognitive, relational, and transformative dimensions of learning. Our findings have broader implications for the design of inclusive and reflexive learning processes in future work of organisations aiming to facilitate inter- and transdisciplinary practices at the science-policy interface.

Assessing the ecosystem services and disservices provided by migratory wildlife across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Highly mobile and migratory wildlife are ecologically, culturally, and economically important because they provide ecosystem services across heterogenous landscapes. Migratory ungulates (hoofed mammals) are particularly influential because of their large body size, seasonal movement across vast distances, and ties to human society. Ungulate migrations are widely declining in the face of habitat alteration, and initiatives across the globe seek to conserve them. However, migratory herds can generate significant costs or disservices for landowners and communities, complicating management and conservation. We demonstrate how a comprehensive assessment of the ecosystem services and disservices (ESDs) provided by mobile wildlife can enable conservation policy that facilitates co-existence across multi-use landscapes. Our mixed-methods approach applies the widely recognized Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) ESD categories as a framework to combine formal scientific knowledge spanning multiple disciplines with experiential knowledge gathered from local stakeholders through interviews. We apply this methodology in the context of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), which harbors long-distance migrations of six ungulate species that move between public protected areas and private working lands. We discuss how stakeholder knowledge corroborates or contradicts scientific literature and characterize stakeholder groups and their perspectives. We suggest that formal assessments of ESDs within their ecological and socioeconomic contexts could mobilize resources for conservation, increase returns on conservation spending, and support conflict resolution amongst groups seeking to manage wildlife for different objectives.

What is a Resource? Representing Eurasia’s Pastoral/nomadic Development History in the IPBES Framework for Reconceptualized Resource Meanings

The purpose of this article is to update the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) framework to reflect resource understandings arising within historically non-sedentary societies. This article examines how Eurasia’s unique development history based on livestock cultivation beget modes of understanding predicated in mobile life strategies and pastoral/nomadic interactions with the Eurasian geography. In contrast, prevailing resource ideas emphasize land relation histories of sedentary peoples. Using the IPBES framework, this article takes a novel approach to show how food and food customs reflect embedded resource understandings relevant to non-sedentary peoples. Empirical findings from sturgeon aquaculture facilities in the Caspian states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan demonstrates sturgeon meat in customary cuisine connects Eurasian peoples to land knowledge instilled with its own resource meanings. This article updates the IPBES framework to incorporate the livestock element as the integrative mechanism giving the method for land use and Eurasia’s own resource concept. Incorporating the livestock variable within the IPBES framework to express the value accorded to mobility better represents the diversity of resource meaning-making processes. It also makes possible a consideration for how food and food customs enabling narrative transmit land appreciations and knowledges not adequately captured by conventional resource analyses.

A plea for more freshwater experts in IPBES

Abstract Biodiversity loss occurs much faster in the world's freshwaters than in the terrestrial or marine realms, yet worries have been expressed that freshwater systems are not given the same priority as ‘land and oceans’ in global environmental governance. The Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is mandated to provide the knowledge basis supporting international environmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. To a large extent, the work of IPBES is dependent on voluntary contributions by independent experts from across the world. Here, I present an overview of the various ways in which freshwater experts can contribute to IPBES, ultimately to strengthen the representation of freshwater ecosystems in global environmental governance. Avenues to contribute include participating in the development of IPBES assessment reports that are adopted by the 139 member states, engaging in the external review process of IPBES products, filling in knowledge gaps as identified by IPBES assessment reports to inform upcoming assessments, implementing IPBES outcomes and recommendations in practice, and actively engaging with plenary meetings of government delegations to influence decisions. Actively supporting governments worldwide in making evidence‐based decisions can be intrinsically rewarding and offers several additional benefits. These benefits include the potential for enhanced professional reputation, given the authoritative nature of IPBES products; networking and collaboration opportunities with experts and stakeholders from around the world; and professional development through gaining experience in navigating the science–policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services. I conclude with a call to action.

Multidimensional Ecosystem Mapping: Towards a More Comprehensive Spatial Assessment of Nature’s Contributions to People in France

Ecosystems are experiencing significant pressure from human activities, with 1 million species at risk of extinction. This is threatening to undermine the resilience of ecosystems, which provide multiple benefits to support human existence and are essential for the support of life on Earth. A number of conceptual frameworks have been developed as a guide for the assessment of ecosystem services (ESs) and nature’s contributions to people (NCPs), including Millennium Ecosystems Assessment, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity report, France’s National Ecosystems Assessment, the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services, and the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. In this paper, we compare the existing conceptual frameworks for the assessment of ESs and NCPs and derive a unified structural framework. Several indicators for characterizing the ESs/NCPs provided are selected and integrated through normalization. On this basis, and enriched by a number of culture-specific indicators, we conduct a mapping exercise illustrating the ES/NCP provision for the whole of France in a spatially explicit form based on a 1 × 1 km scale. Finally, we generate integrated maps depicting distribution patterns of different services and contributions across the landscapes of France focusing on economic, social and ecological dimensions. The results indicate that a non-monetary assessment of the complexity and diversity of NCPs is feasible and presents tangible advantages as compared to monetary frameworks. The paper concludes that provisioning, regulating and cultural services and contributions are geographically unevenly distributed and further analysis is required to assess the degree of complementarity, feedback loops and tipping points among different services. Our pilot research clearly illustrated the feasibility of conducting a highly disaggregated multidimensional assessment of ESs/NCPs at the national scale to inform decision making.

In memoriam: Eleanor Jane Sterling (1960–2023)

In memoriam: Eleanor Jane Sterling (1960–2023)

Progress, Challenges, and the Nexus of Research and Impact - the importance of technology in biodiversity conservation in Indonesia

The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 2019, published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), shed light on the increasingly alarming state of global biodiversity. Biodiversity is essential to human survival through its contribution to ecosystem stability, resilience, and the provision of critical ecosystem services that sustain essential ecological processes and human well-being. Amongst other services, as demonstrated across Indonesia, biodiversity supports livelihoods by providing building and clothing materials, maintaining water quality, and providing medicines and food. As the global human population reached 8 billion in 2022, the interconnections between our unsustainable production and consumption, the climate crisis, and biodiversity decline have been increasingly recognized by the global community through IPBES and IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Escalating human numbers, coupled with burgeoning economic and industrial demands, must necessitate substantial forest land use—repositories of biodiversity. Conservation practitioners have therefore been continually driven to innovate in their pursuit of effective strategies for sustainably managing the world's precious biodiversity. Researchers and academics have the pivotal responsibility to produce research that brings about real-world impactful outcomes. The academic community is expected to address the needs of those working to conserve nature through the development of research and technology with immediate practical applicability. We look forward to publishing more of these research impact papers in the future.

Supporting the Global Biodiversity Framework Monitoring with LUI, the Land Use Intensity Indicator

Biodiversity loss has been identified as one of the environmental impacts where humankind has been trespassing over planetary boundaries most significantly. Going beyond the pressures causing damages (calling them ‘direct drivers’) and analysing their underlying driving forces, IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, also identified a series of indirect drivers. The Montreal–Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework, GBF, including its suggested monitoring approach, is intended to and claims to be a policy response to such analyses. However, to assess the human impact on ecosystems as a basis for planning conservation and restoration, as foreseen in the GBF, monitoring ecosystem typologies (in the GBF with reference to the UN statistical standard SEEA ES, which, in turn, refers to the IUCN ecosystem classification) is not enough. It needs to be complemented with data on the severity of human impacts and on the history of places, i.e., how and when the current ecosystem status was brought about. In this conceptual paper, we suggest LUI, a deliberately simple ordinal scale index for land use intensity changes, to address these two gaps. It is based on the hemeroby concept, measuring the human impact as deviation from naturalness. This makes it an information collection and presentation tool for those working in landscape planning and management. LUI’s simple and intuitively understandable structure makes it suitable for citizen science applications, and, thus, for participative monitoring when extensive statistical data gathering is not feasible and past data are not available. Of course, it can also be used as a simple tool for communicating when detailed statistical data series are available. While the aggregate index is expected to communicate well, its components are more relevant to motivate and help policy makers to prioritise their decisions according to the severity of recent anthropogenic ecosystem disturbances.