Government leaders discussing the global biodiversity crisis are being urged to formally incorporate the different values of nature into their decision-making.

The call is being made by Professor Michael Christie from Aberystwyth University, who is among the international experts attending the 16th meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity.

Professor Christie co-chaired the landmark Values Assessment Report, commissioned by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Published in 2022, the report underlined the need for governments to take the whole range of nature’s values into account when making decisions rather than base policy on a narrow set of market values, short-term profits and economic growth.

Speaking ahead of COP16, Professor Christie, an Ecological and Environmental Economist in the Aberystwyth Business School, called for the recommendations of the IPBES Values Assessment report to be adopted.

“This would place a formal obligation on signatory governments to consider the diverse values of nature and biodiversity across a wide range of policy decisions, at international, national and local level,” he said.

“At a time when up to a million species face extinction, such a move is vital and would lead to better, more sustainable decisions that help tackle today’s biodiversity and climate crises.”