The Five Drivers of Biodiversity Loss

The Five Drivers of Biodiversity Loss

Why Drivers Matter for Business

A company cannot manage a risk it cannot describe. The IPBES driver framework gives organisations a structured, scientifically grounded vocabulary to identify, assess, and disclose nature impacts. Each driver maps onto specific industry activities, value chain positions, and geographic contexts.

The five direct drivers identified by IPBES, ranked by their overall relative global impact on terrestrial and marine ecosystems, are: (1) land and sea use change, (2) direct exploitation of organisms, (3) climate change, (4) pollution, and (5) invasive alien species. These drivers do not act in isolation; they interact and amplify one another. Climate change, for instance, stresses species already weakened by habitat loss, making the combined impact far greater than either driver alone.

Driver 1: Land and Sea Use Change (Ranked Highest Impact)

Land use change is the single most significant driver of terrestrial biodiversity loss globally. It encompasses the conversion of natural habitats (forests, wetlands, grasslands) to agriculture, urban development, mining, and infrastructure. Sea use change covers equivalent transformations in marine and coastal environments, including habitat destruction from bottom trawling, coastal development, and aquaculture expansion.

Key data from the IPBES assessment:

• Over 75% of Earth's terrestrial environment has been significantly altered by human actions.
• More than 66% of the ocean is experiencing increasing cumulative impacts.
• Around 85% of wetland area present in 1700 had been lost by 2000.
• Agricultural expansion accounts for approximately 70% of projected terrestrial habitat loss through to 2050 under business-as-usual scenarios.

Driver 2: Direct Exploitation of Organisms

Direct exploitation covers hunting, fishing, logging, harvesting, and collection of organisms from wild populations at rates exceeding their natural replacement. It is the leading driver of decline in marine ecosystems and the second-largest driver of terrestrial biodiversity loss.

• An estimated 33% of global marine fish stocks are harvested at biologically unsustainable levels (FAO, 2022).
• Roughly half of all animals traded in the global wildlife trade are harvested unsustainably from wild populations.
• Selective logging, even when certified, reduces forest biodiversity by altering canopy structure, increasing edge effects, and enabling subsequent hunting access.

For financial institutions, direct exploitation creates credit and reputational risk across sectors including seafood processing, luxury goods (exotic leathers, ivory), and timber. Companies sourcing from these supply chains face increasing regulatory exposure under legislation such as the EU Deforestation Regulation and US import restrictions on illegal wildlife products.

Driver 3: Climate Change

Climate change is currently ranked third in overall impact but is projected to become the dominant driver of biodiversity loss by 2050 under high-emission scenarios. Its mechanisms include shifting temperature and precipitation patterns, ocean warming and acidification, sea level rise, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme events.

• For every degree Celsius of warming, roughly 10% of species face a dramatically increased risk of extinction, according to modelling published in Science (Urban, 2015).
• Coral bleaching events that previously occurred once per 25-27 years now recur every 5-6 years, insufficient time for full reef recovery.
• Polar bear habitat in the Arctic has shrunk by approximately 14% per decade since 1979 due to sea ice loss.
• Phenological mismatches, where species' seasonal timing (flowering, migration, breeding) no longer synchronises due to different rates of climate response, are disrupting food webs globally.

Driver 4: Pollution

Pollution encompasses all forms of chemical and physical contamination that degrade biodiversity: nutrient pollution (eutrophication), pesticide toxicity, plastic contamination, heavy metal accumulation, light pollution, noise pollution, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

• Nutrient pollution from agricultural runoff has created more than 400 documented ocean dead zones globally, covering more than 245,000 km² of seafloor, areas with insufficient oxygen to support most marine life.
• Plastic pollution affects at least 267 species through entanglement and ingestion. Microplastics have been detected in the deepest ocean trenches, Arctic sea ice, and human blood.
• Pesticides have contributed to a 75% decline in flying insect biomass documented over 27 years in German nature reserves (Hallmann et al., 2017). Neonicotinoid insecticides are particularly implicated in bee colony collapse disorder.
• Light pollution disrupts the navigation, reproduction, and feeding behaviour of nocturnal species including sea turtles, migratory birds, and moths.

Driver 5: Invasive Alien Species

Invasive alien species (IAS) are organisms introduced outside their natural range, typically through human activity, that establish, spread, and cause harm to native biodiversity and ecosystems. They are the primary driver of documented animal extinctions globally and are implicated in 40% of all recorded extinctions since 1500.

• An estimated 3,500 invasive species are established in regions where they cause measurable ecological harm.
• The economic cost of invasive species was estimated at $1.28 trillion between 1970 and 2017, a cost that has quadrupled every decade (Diagne et al., Nature 2021).
• Island species are most vulnerable: 80% of known extinctions have occurred on islands, often driven by introduced rats, cats, and snakes.

Driver Interactions and Business Relevance

TNFD's LEAP Approach (which we cover in Module 1) asks organisations to identify which drivers they contribute to and are exposed to through their direct operations, upstream supply chains, and downstream value chains. Most organisations interact with multiple drivers simultaneously.