Nexus Assessment
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The Nexus Assessment is the core scientific and policy framework underpinning the Nexus Ecosystem. Developed over three years by 165 international experts from 57 countries under the auspices of IPBES, this report provides a comprehensive, evidence‑based understanding of the intricate interconnections among biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change. It forms the epistemic backbone of the Nexus Ecosystem, guiding its design and operation as a unified, data‑driven platform for sustainable decision‑making.
Key Elements of the Framework:
Integrated Multi‑Sectoral Analysis: The assessment rigorously examines over 70 response options that generate co‑benefits across the nexus of global challenges. It demonstrates that isolated, single‑issue approaches are inadequate for addressing the cascading impacts of environmental degradation. Instead, integrated strategies that bridge biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change are essential for achieving transformative outcomes.
Evidence‑Based Policy Guidance: By quantifying both the direct and unaccounted‑for economic costs—estimated at US$10–25 trillion annually—the framework provides a robust foundation for policy interventions. It links the adverse effects of unsustainable practices and indirect socioeconomic drivers to real‑world challenges, thereby equipping policymakers with the insights needed to meet global targets such as the SDGs, the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Paris Agreement.
Holistic Governance and Adaptive Management: The report advocates for "nexus governance"—integrated, inclusive, and adaptive approaches that break down traditional silos. It emphasizes the need for coordinated decision‑making and stakeholder engagement, ensuring that policy measures benefit multiple sectors simultaneously and avoid unintended trade‑offs.
Digital Epistemic Infrastructure: Serving as the scientific bedrock of the Nexus Ecosystem, the framework informs the platform’s design by transforming complex, interdependent data into actionable intelligence. It leverages standardized frameworks (such as the Global Risks Index) and advanced analytics to deliver real‑time insights that guide sustainable policy interventions and innovative solutions.
The Nexus Assessment is more than a static report—it is an evolving, science‑driven model that integrates diverse data streams and interdisciplinary insights into a cohesive decision‑support system. By mapping the complex interactions among biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change, the framework empowers governments, communities, and enterprises to implement adaptive, integrated policies that pave the way for a resilient and sustainable future.
By the Numbers – Key Statistics and Thematic Findings from the Report ()
2‑6%: Biodiversity decline per decade across all assessed indicators for the last 30–50 years Nexus Implication: The persistent loss of biodiversity highlights the urgent need for continuous monitoring and early detection. Nexus leverages standardized frameworks (e.g., GRIx) and integrates diverse data sources (EO, sensor networks, etc.) to track these trends. This epistemic infrastructure transforms historical and real‑time data into actionable intelligence, guiding policies that can reverse or mitigate decline.
>50%: Global population living in areas experiencing highest impacts from declines in biodiversity, water availability and quality, food security, and increased health risks due to climate change Nexus Implication: With more than half the global population at risk, Nexus is designed to provide granular, location‑specific risk analyses. Its integrated dashboards and early warning systems enable decision‑makers to target interventions in vulnerable areas, ensuring that interlinked challenges (water, food, health) are addressed in a coordinated, equitable manner.
~$58 trillion: Value in 2023 of global annual economic activity generated in sectors moderately to highly dependent on nature Nexus Implication: The enormous economic dependency on nature underscores the need to factor environmental health into economic decision‑making. Nexus’s cross‑domain analytics help quantify nature’s contributions to GDP and inform sustainable investment strategies by revealing the hidden risks and opportunities within these sectors.
Up to $25 trillion: Annual ‘external’ costs across fossil fuels, agriculture, and fisheries, reflecting negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, water, and health Nexus Implication: By integrating environmental externalities into its risk models, Nexus transforms raw cost figures into strategic insights. This epistemic approach encourages policymakers and businesses to internalize these costs—thereby promoting sustainable practices and smarter resource allocation.
$5.3 trillion: Annual private‑sector financial flows directly damaging to biodiversity Nexus Implication: Recognizing the scale of harmful investments, Nexus tracks financial flows alongside environmental indicators. This integration enables stakeholders to identify sectors where private investments are counterproductive and to develop corrective measures based on transparent, data‑driven risk assessments.
$1.7 trillion: Annual public subsidies incentivizing damage to biodiversity, distorting trade, and increasing pressure on natural resources Nexus Implication: Nexus’s design as an epistemic infrastructure offers decision‑makers clear evidence of how public funds are misaligned with sustainability goals. By making these data visible, the platform supports policy reforms to reallocate subsidies toward practices that protect and enhance natural capital.
$100 billion–$300 billion: Annual value of illegal resource extraction activities (wildlife, timber, fish trades) Nexus Implication: The illicit extraction of resources is a major threat to ecosystem integrity. Through the integration of satellite imagery, sensor data, and real‑time analytics, Nexus can help detect anomalies and monitor illegal activities, thereby providing a knowledge base for enforcement and conservation strategies.
Up to $200 billion: Annual expenditure aimed at improving the status of biodiversity Nexus Implication: Investments in biodiversity improvement require rigorous tracking of outcomes. Nexus offers an integrated, feedback‑rich environment that assesses the effectiveness of such expenditures, enabling adaptive management and ensuring that funds lead to measurable ecological benefits.
Up to $1 trillion: Estimated annual financing gap to meet global resource needs for biodiversity Nexus Implication: The financing gap signals a critical shortfall in resources. By quantifying these gaps with high‑resolution data and predictive modeling, Nexus informs stakeholders where investment is most needed and helps attract targeted funding to bridge these deficits.
At least $4 trillion: Estimated annual financing gap to meet the SDGs in addition to the biodiversity funding gap Nexus Implication: This broader funding gap reflects systemic underinvestment in sustainable development. Nexus’s epistemic infrastructure provides integrated insights across biodiversity, climate, water, and food systems, supporting the case for coordinated financing strategies that can help meet multiple SDGs simultaneously.
Economic impacts of biodiversity loss are expected to affect developing countries, where there are higher barriers to mobilizing sustainable financial flows Nexus Implication: Nexus is built to be globally inclusive—incorporating local data, indigenous knowledge, and community insights. By offering accessible analytics and decision‑support tools, it empowers developing regions to overcome financial barriers and mobilize sustainable investments in natural capital.
43%: Proportion of total biodiversity‑financing flows that also directly include benefits for another nexus element Nexus Implication: This statistic reinforces the Nexus philosophy: interventions in one domain (e.g., biodiversity) generate co‑benefits across water, food, and health. Nexus’s design explicitly integrates cross‑sector data to maximize these synergistic benefits, promoting holistic solutions.
81%: Proportion of funding for biodiversity that comes from public institutions Nexus Implication: The heavy reliance on public funding emphasizes the need for transparent, accountable data systems. Nexus’s robust governance and compliance modules ensure that public funds are effectively managed and that their impact is continuously monitored and evaluated through a unified epistemic framework.
$42 billion: Current funding for payments for ecosystem services, which often fund activities for both biodiversity and another nexus element like water Nexus Implication: Ecosystem service payments are a mechanism to reward sustainable practices. Nexus’s integrated analytics platform enables precise measurement of ecosystem services’ benefits, ensuring that payments are properly aligned with improvements in biodiversity, water quality, and overall ecosystem health.
€47 million: Investment by the city of Paris to help farmers transition to ecological intensification, resulting in reduced pollution and cleaner water Nexus Implication: Such targeted investments demonstrate how localized interventions can yield broad benefits. Nexus’s design incorporates localized data inputs and simulation models to monitor the outcomes of ecological transitions, offering a replicable template for similar investments globally.
30%: Proportion of world’s land, waters, and seas to be protected by 2030 under target 3 of the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Nexus Implication: This ambitious protection target is integral to sustaining ecosystem services. Nexus provides scenario‑based analytics and visualization tools that help planners assess the effectiveness of protected areas, ensuring that conservation efforts are optimized for both ecological and human benefits.
Reduction of plastics has led to increased water quality and wildlife protection, fewer floods, and reductions in water‑borne diseases Nexus Implication: Demonstrating clear cause‑and‑effect relationships, this example shows the value of targeted environmental interventions. Nexus’s integrated monitoring systems validate such outcomes by correlating intervention data (like reduced plastic usage) with improvements in water and ecosystem health, reinforcing evidence‑based decision‑making.
Urban nature‑based solutions that increase urban green and blue space help to manage heat island effects, improve water quality and availability, reduce air pollution, and lower allergen and zoonotic disease risks Nexus Implication: Urban interventions that yield multifaceted benefits are central to the Nexus approach. By merging urban planning data with environmental and health metrics, Nexus provides a comprehensive view of how nature‑based solutions can simultaneously enhance multiple nexus elements, supporting resilient urban ecosystems.
Response options that are implemented in more equitable ways also provide greater potential benefits across the nexus elements Nexus Implication: Nexus’s core philosophy emphasizes that equity and effectiveness are not trade‑offs but complementary. Its integrated, cross‑sector data platform enables equitable policy designs by ensuring that all demographic and ecological variables are considered—maximizing benefits across biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate.
Knowledge and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities can help successfully conserve biodiversity and sustainably manage other nexus elements Nexus Implication: Indigenous knowledge is a critical component of the epistemic infrastructure Nexus aims to build. By incorporating community‑sourced data and traditional practices into its analytical frameworks, Nexus enriches its risk intelligence and promotes culturally relevant, sustainable management strategies—illustrated by successful outcomes like reduced deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
Freshwater biodiversity is being lost faster than terrestrial biodiversity. Unsustainable freshwater withdrawal, wetland degradation, and forest loss have decreased water quality and climate change resilience, impacting biodiversity, water, and food availability. Nexus Connection: Nexus integrates multi‑source data (e.g., satellite imagery, IoT sensors, and field reports) to continuously monitor freshwater ecosystems. Its standardized data models (like GRIx) capture changes in freshwater biodiversity and water quality, enabling decision‑makers to identify unsustainable practices early and implement adaptive management strategies that protect both natural and human systems.
Many marine systems globally have been overharvested and degraded through human activities. Nexus Connection: By aggregating marine data streams—from vessel tracking to remote sensing—the Nexus Ecosystem builds a comprehensive picture of ocean health. This epistemic framework supports real‑time monitoring of overharvesting trends and degradation, allowing stakeholders to adjust policies and promote sustainable marine resource management.
The water cycle is regulated by ecosystem and geophysical processes – supporting biodiversity and providing many contributions that are essential to human health and well‑being. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s integrated analytics connect hydrological models with biodiversity and climate data. By understanding the natural regulation of the water cycle, the platform helps quantify ecosystem services, ensuring that interventions reinforce the natural processes essential for human health and environmental resilience.
Forest cover loss decreases water regulation, quality, and availability, resulting in increasing water treatment costs and negative health outcomes. Nexus Connection: The system incorporates land cover data and forest monitoring tools to assess the impact of deforestation on water systems. This linkage allows for scenario‑based risk assessments that predict increased water treatment costs and health risks, informing policymakers on where forest conservation investments can yield multiple benefits.
~80%: Proportion of humanity’s demand for freshwater used to meet food production needs. Nexus Connection: Nexus integrates agricultural data with water usage statistics to monitor how water resources are allocated. This insight drives more sustainable agricultural practices by highlighting the critical balance between food production and water conservation, ensuring that water remains available for both human consumption and ecosystem health.
75%: Proportion of global population in 2005 dependent on forests for accessible freshwater. Nexus Connection: With its multi‑layered data infrastructure, Nexus can track the dependency of communities on forest‑provided water. This information empowers local and regional stakeholders to advocate for forest protection policies that safeguard freshwater access, reinforcing the interconnectedness of ecosystem health and human well‑being.
At least 50: Diseases attributable to poor water supply, water quality, and sanitation. Nexus Connection: By linking water quality data with public health records, Nexus offers a real‑time diagnostic tool for early detection of water‑borne disease outbreaks. This cross‑sector analysis helps governments and health agencies to preemptively manage risks, reducing the burden of disease through timely interventions.
~33%: Reef‑building coral species at high risk of extinction. Nexus Connection: Coral reefs are vital to marine biodiversity and coastal protection. Nexus tracks reef health via high‑resolution satellite data and in‑situ sensors, providing early warnings about reef degradation. This evidence‑based monitoring supports conservation strategies that protect these essential ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Nearly 1 billion: People living within 100km of a coral reef and who benefit from them (food, medicine, protection, tourism, livelihoods). Nexus Connection: By mapping coral reef ecosystems and overlaying socioeconomic data, Nexus illustrates the critical dependency of coastal populations on healthy reefs. This integrative approach informs targeted interventions that protect both the environment and the livelihoods of nearly a billion people, ensuring sustainable use of natural resources.
Transboundary water cooperation facilitates the sustainable management of resources at the basin scale. Improving groundwater governance through cooperation across scales, including support for community water management, increases benefits across the nexus elements. Integrated water infrastructure and water-sensitive urban design take advantage of natural systems to reduce flood risks, deliver food production benefits, and contribute to climate change mitigation. Nexus Connection: Nexus serves as a central, interoperable data platform that transcends political and administrative boundaries. By standardizing water-related data and enabling shared access among multiple stakeholders, it promotes transboundary collaboration and integrated governance. Its scenario‑analysis and decision‑support tools help stakeholders design water infrastructure and urban solutions that harmonize with natural systems—maximizing resilience and sustainability across the water–food–climate nexus.
Increases in food production have improved health through greater caloric intake, but unsustainable agricultural practices have also resulted in loss of biodiversity, unsustainable water usage, reduced food diversity and quality, and increased pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Nexus Connection: Nexus integrates agricultural, environmental, and socioeconomic data (including remote sensing, field surveys, and IoT data) to capture both the benefits and the trade‑offs of modern food production. By applying standardized risk frameworks (such as GRIx), it reveals hidden costs—like biodiversity loss and water stress—thus enabling stakeholders to reframe agricultural practices toward sustainability.
Negative impacts on the nexus elements from food systems have decreased biodiversity and consequently many of nature’s contributions to people (e.g., regulation of water quality and climate); increased non‑communicable disease risks; emerging infectious diseases; and global temperatures and other climatic changes. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s cross‑sector analytics connect food system data with environmental, health, and climate indicators. This integrative approach highlights the cascading impacts of unsustainable food practices on ecosystem services and public health, supporting proactive policy interventions that align food security with environmental stewardship.
Global agrobiodiversity is declining, including genetic resources for food and agriculture, with impacts on ecosystem functioning, food system resilience, food security and nutrition, as well as on social (employment and health) and economic (income and productivity) systems. Nexus Connection: By incorporating genomic data, remote sensing, and historical land-use records, Nexus monitors changes in agrobiodiversity. This comprehensive dataset informs models that assess ecosystem resilience and the long‑term viability of food systems, guiding conservation efforts and sustainable agricultural practices that preserve genetic diversity.
Global malnutrition and inequalities in food security persist despite a decline in the total number of undernourished people—the cost of healthy diets can be high, particularly in developing countries, and consequently inaccessible to many. Nexus Connection: Nexus aggregates socioeconomic and nutritional data with agricultural outputs to pinpoint disparities in food access and affordability. Its decision‑support tools help design targeted interventions, policy reforms, and market solutions that ensure sustainable, healthy diets become accessible across different income groups and regions.
Unsustainable exploitation and pollution of freshwater and marine ecosystems impact millions of people, including those highly dependent on protein-rich food obtained from these ecosystems, such as Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s integrated framework connects data on water quality, marine resource health, and food security. By linking environmental degradation with nutritional outcomes, it supports adaptive management strategies that promote sustainable harvesting practices and protect the livelihoods of communities reliant on these critical ecosystems.
42%: Proportion of global population in 2021 unable to afford healthy diets (86% for low‑income and 70% for lower‑middle‑income countries). Nexus Connection: This stark statistic underlines the importance of incorporating socioeconomic indicators into the Nexus analytics. By combining economic, nutritional, and agricultural data, the platform enables stakeholders to identify vulnerable populations and design subsidy or market-based interventions that improve access to healthy, sustainable food.
80%: Proportion of total undernourished people who live in developing countries, primarily in rural areas. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s decentralized data collection and community‑sourced inputs ensure that rural and remote areas are accurately represented. This holistic view supports tailored policies and investments that address the specific food security challenges faced by undernourished populations in developing regions.
>800 million: People affected by food insecurity in Asia and Africa. Nexus Connection: With its global, real‑time data aggregation capabilities, Nexus provides detailed regional risk assessments. This helps international organizations, governments, and NGOs to coordinate targeted interventions in Asia and Africa, addressing food insecurity through evidence‑based decision‑making.
Nearly 3 million: Deaths in 2017 associated with diets low in whole grains. Nexus Connection: Nexus links health outcome data with dietary patterns and food supply chain analytics. By identifying nutritional deficiencies and their impacts on public health, it enables the design of programs to promote diversified diets and improve overall health outcomes.
Adopting sustainable agricultural practices (e.g., improving nitrogen use efficiency, integrated pest management, agroecology, agroforestry, sustainable intensification, reductions in food losses and waste, adoption of novel food/feed sources, and sustainable healthy diets) would enable the current agricultural land area to meet the calorific and nutritional needs of future generations in the medium to long term. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s simulation and scenario‑modeling tools allow policymakers and farmers to test and compare the long‑term outcomes of different sustainable agricultural practices. This predictive capacity guides investments and policy reforms, ensuring that agricultural systems evolve to meet future food and nutrition demands sustainably.
30%: Increase in cereal yields, as well as enhancements in soil health and biodiversity in some parts of south‑central Niger through farmer‑managed natural regeneration of 5 million hectares with native trees and agroforestry systems. Nexus Connection: This example illustrates how localized, sustainable practices can yield measurable improvements. Nexus’s localized data integration and real‑time monitoring enable the replication and scaling of such interventions, providing proof‑of‑concept evidence for agroecological practices that improve both yields and ecosystem health.
Indigenous food systems, grounded in reciprocal worldviews and values regarding people and nature in balance, supply sustainable and healthy foods while also contributing to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Nexus Connection: Nexus values the integration of traditional ecological knowledge with modern data science. By incorporating indigenous food system practices and local community insights into its analytical frameworks, the platform enriches its models with culturally relevant strategies that simultaneously enhance food security, conserve biodiversity, and mitigate climate change.
Greater life expectancy and childhood survival are partly a result of increased production and access to food. Worsening outcomes from several communicable and non‑communicable diseases are linked to biodiversity loss, unhealthy diets, lack of clean water, pollution, and climate change among other causes. Nexus Connection: Nexus collects and integrates data on health outcomes, nutritional status, environmental quality, and climate impacts. By correlating these datasets through standardized frameworks (e.g., GRIx), the platform exposes the complex relationships between ecosystem health and human well‑being. This integrated insight supports targeted interventions that balance food production with ecosystem conservation, ultimately contributing to better health outcomes.
Unsustainable farming systems contribute to biodiversity loss, excessive water use, pollution, and climate change. Nexus Connection: The platform monitors agricultural practices using remote sensing, IoT devices, and ground‑level data to assess sustainability. Nexus’s analytics trace the environmental impacts of farming—from biodiversity decline to water overuse and pollution—helping policymakers design sustainable agricultural strategies that protect natural resources and, by extension, human health.
20: Years of average life expectancy difference between regions. Nexus Connection: By integrating demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental data, Nexus highlights stark regional disparities in health outcomes. This deep, context‑rich insight allows governments and international organizations to tailor health, nutrition, and environmental policies to narrow the life expectancy gap, ensuring that interventions are both locally relevant and globally informed.
10x: Extent to which child mortality rates are higher in least‑developed countries compared to high‑income countries. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s cross‑sector analytics reveal how environmental degradation, poor nutrition, and inadequate health services contribute to higher child mortality in developing regions. The platform’s comprehensive risk intelligence enables targeted public health interventions—especially in rural and underserved areas—by providing real‑time data to guide resource allocation and policy reform.
11 million: Adult deaths in 2017 (and 255 million disability‑adjusted life years among adults) accounted for by unhealthy diets. Nexus Connection: Nexus tracks dietary patterns alongside health metrics and environmental data. By quantifying the burden of disease linked to nutrition, the platform empowers health agencies and food system stakeholders to develop and monitor interventions aimed at improving diet quality. This evidence‑based approach supports the transition toward healthier, more sustainable food systems that reduce chronic disease burdens.
9 million: Premature deaths in 2019 (16% of all deaths) estimated to have been caused by increased air and water pollution. Nexus Connection: Air and water quality data are core components of the Nexus data ecosystem. The platform integrates environmental monitoring with public health records to pinpoint pollution hotspots and forecast related health risks. This real‑time alerting system enables rapid response to deteriorating environmental conditions, reducing the incidence of pollution‑related premature deaths.
50%: Proportion of emerging and re‑emerging infectious disease events driven by changes in land use, agricultural practices, and activities that encroach on natural habitats, leading to increased contact between wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s integrative approach embodies the One Health paradigm by simultaneously monitoring land use changes, agricultural practices, and epidemiological data. This multi‑dimensional analysis helps predict and mitigate zoonotic disease risks by revealing where and how habitat disruption and human–animal interactions may trigger disease spillover. The platform thereby supports coordinated, cross‑sector responses to emerging health threats.
The One Health approach supports integrating food system and biodiversity management with local health services to reduce risks from zoonotic pathogen emergence and spillover at source. For example, Brazil’s successful Unified Health System joins human health professionals, veterinarians, and environmental health practitioners working together with farmers and policymakers to jointly design holistic practices. Nexus Connection: Nexus is designed to operationalize the One Health approach. By combining data from food systems, biodiversity monitoring, and public health, the platform fosters collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Its interoperable, real‑time analytics facilitate joint decision‑making and coordinated action, much like Brazil’s integrated health system. This ensures that interventions address the social, environmental, and health determinants collectively, reducing the risk of disease outbreaks and improving overall ecosystem resilience.
Climate change affects biodiversity, water, food, and health through changes in average climatic conditions and the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events. Nexus Connection: Nexus integrates climatic, environmental, and socioeconomic data to capture both gradual changes and sudden extremes. By using advanced AI/ML analytics and real‑time sensor data, the platform continuously monitors these shifts and their ripple effects across ecosystems and communities, enabling stakeholders to understand and anticipate multi‑sector impacts.
Climate change impacts terrestrial food production with consequences for human health and well‑being, including exacerbating food insecurity for vulnerable populations. Nexus Connection: By combining agricultural yield data, weather patterns, and health outcomes, Nexus helps model the vulnerabilities in food production systems. This enables the design of adaptive strategies that protect food security and ensure that vulnerable communities receive targeted interventions to offset adverse climate impacts.
Intensifying climate change will stress water resources and undermine agricultural and food production systems, cause increased mortality from heat waves, and expand the epidemic belt for vector‑borne diseases towards higher latitudes and altitudes. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s integrated approach merges hydrological models, agricultural data, and epidemiological trends to assess and forecast these compound risks. Its scenario‑modeling capabilities allow decision‑makers to simulate the cascading effects of water scarcity and heat stress, informing strategic planning and resource allocation to mitigate health and food security risks.
Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, flooding, droughts, and wildfires, result in direct health impacts and increased dispersal of pathogens and pollutants (e.g., untreated wastewater, fertilizers, pesticides, sediments, and air pollutants). Nexus Connection: With its real‑time monitoring and alerting systems, Nexus captures the onset and severity of extreme weather events. By correlating these events with data on pollutant dispersion and public health outcomes, the platform provides critical intelligence that supports rapid emergency responses and long‑term resilience planning.
Under current trends, climate change leads to irreversible loss of marine biodiversity, such as coral reefs, and negative effects on coastal fisheries; both provide diets that prevent malnutrition, stunted child growth, and other conditions. Nexus Connection: Nexus tracks marine ecosystem health using satellite imagery and in‑situ sensors to monitor coral reef degradation and fisheries health. This data is essential for understanding the loss of marine ecosystem services and for designing interventions that protect coastal communities’ food sources and overall nutritional health.
Exposure to risks from climate change is projected to double between the 1.5°C and 2°C global warming levels and double again between a 2°C and 3°C world, across multiple sectors. Nexus Connection: Through dynamic risk modeling and scenario analysis, Nexus quantifies the exponential growth in climate risks. This predictive capability supports policymakers in making urgent decisions to limit warming and implement adaptation measures across sectors—ensuring that investments are directed where they are most needed.
21-37%: Proportion of total greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the global food system. Nexus Connection: By linking emissions data with food production analytics, Nexus highlights the significant carbon footprint of the global food system. This integrated insight encourages the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and supports policy measures aimed at reducing emissions while maintaining food security.
58%: Proportion of known human infectious diseases likely to worsen due to climate change. Nexus Connection: Nexus combines epidemiological data with climate and land-use change information to predict how climate change will exacerbate disease risks. This supports a One Health approach by providing evidence‑based insights that inform integrated strategies for disease prevention, resource management, and ecosystem protection.
12,000–19,000: Heat-related child deaths in Africa between 2011 and 2020 to which climate change directly contributed; 62,000: Heat-related deaths in Europe in 2022; 1,500: Heat-related deaths in the United States in 2023. Nexus Connection: By aggregating regional temperature data, demographic profiles, and health outcomes, Nexus quantifies the human toll of heat events. This granular data informs localized early warning systems and health interventions, helping reduce mortality through timely, targeted responses.
12,000: Disasters caused in the last 50 years by extreme weather, climate, and water‑related events, leading to 2 million human deaths (90% in low‑ and lower‑middle‑income countries) and $4.3 trillion in total costs. Nexus Connection: Nexus’s disaster simulation and risk assessment tools use historical and real‑time data to map the impacts of extreme events. This enables governments and international agencies to better prepare for, mitigate, and recover from disasters—especially in the most vulnerable regions—thereby reducing human and economic losses.
>50%: Proportion of carbon sequestration in the ocean attributable to coastal ecosystems. Nexus Connection: Nexus monitors coastal ecosystems using integrated marine and geospatial data, emphasizing their role in carbon capture. By quantifying these natural contributions, the platform supports conservation and restoration initiatives that maximize carbon sequestration and contribute to climate change mitigation.
>$500 billion: Minimum additional annual costs for delivering adaptation and mitigation to meet climate change goals for each year of additional delay. Nexus Connection: Through economic modeling and scenario analysis, Nexus quantifies the cost of inaction and delays in adaptation measures. This financial intelligence underlines the urgency of immediate, coordinated interventions, providing stakeholders with the data needed to justify and accelerate investments in climate resilience.
Restoration contributes to climate change adaptation and socio‑ecological resilience and can also contribute to climate change mitigation when it targets carbon storage in forests, peatlands, seagrass beds, salt marshes, and marine and coastal ecosystems. Nexus Connection: Nexus integrates restoration outcomes with carbon accounting and resilience metrics. This enables a comprehensive evaluation of restoration projects, ensuring that they deliver measurable benefits in climate mitigation, ecosystem recovery, and enhanced socio‑ecological resilience.