Page 53 - WEF Reoprt 2020

50 % modern drugs crisis: these microscopic plants that drift

at the sea surface absorb carbon dioxide
developed from
on a scale comparable to the world’s
natural products
forests, and they are threatened by
29
warming oceans. 30
Business risk
The destruction of nature will inevitably
Exacerbation of climate change impact bottom lines—for example,
Terrestrial and marine biodiversity together through reduced fish stocks disrupting
support the reduction of greenhouse gas commodity supply chains, economic
emissions and the conservation of carbon losses from disasters such as flooding,
sinks, sequestering 5.6 gigatonnes of and the loss of potential new sources
carbon per year—the equivalent of 60% of of medicine. Extractives, construction,
global human-driven emissions. The health energy, fashion and textiles are among
of ecosystems that sequester carbon can the sectors especially vulnerable to
depend on individual species: for example, ecological destruction. All businesses
31
endangered forest elephants are vital to should account for ecological risks to their
the health of Central Africa’s rainforests. operations and reputations, yet few do: a
Collapse of this ecosystem could release recent study of Fortune 500 companies
3 billion tons of carbon, the equivalent found that nearly half mentioned biodiversity
of France’s emissions for 27 years. in their sustainability reports, but only five
28
Phytoplankton provide another example set specific, measurable and timebound
of how depletion of species and ecosystems targets. Nature-related risks are
32
could exponentially worsen the climate undervalued in business decision-making.

FIG U RE 4 .1
Species Decline: Insects

Proportion of species
1
0.9
0.8

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3

0.2
0.1
0
Hemiptera (hoppers) Cerambycidae Sirphidae Plecoptera Ephemeroptera Odonata Carabidae Hymenoptera Orthoptera Apidae (bees) Lepidoptera Coccinelidae Lepidoptera (moths) Trichoptera Coleoptera (dung beetle)

Decline <30% Vulnerable Endangered Extinct

Data source: Sánchez-Bayo, F. and K. A. G. Wyckhuys. 2019. “ Worldwide Decline of the Entomofauna: A Review of its Drivers”. Biological Conservation 232
(April 2019): 8–27. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320718313636

48 Save the Axolotl