> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/model/sectors/biodiversity.md).

# Biodiversity

Biodiversity in the Nexus model: the ecosystems that regulate watersheds, pollinate crops and buffer coasts, what they depend on, and the teaching contexts in which they are hit first.

**Where this fits:** biodiversity (B) and the sectors it couples to · Labs, Nexus Standards and Nexus Reports · GCRI (evidence and methods) · Planning and readiness preparation · model page.

**In brief.** Biodiversity supplies services the other sectors usually take for granted: pollination and soils for food (0.6), watershed regulation for water (0.5), zoonotic spillover and medicines for health (0.4) and storm surge protection for infrastructure (0.2). It depends on water through environmental flows (0.6) and on food through land conversion (0.6). Biodiversity is hit first in a pollinator decline and in a coastal storm surge, where mangroves and dunes absorb the surge or, where they are gone, leave the built coast exposed. All strengths on this page are **teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements for any place**.

## What the sector carries

Biodiversity is the slowest sector to show damage and the slowest to recover. Its relations run through ecosystem services that rarely appear on a balance sheet, which is why the IPBES nexus assessment treats biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change as one set of interlinkages (IPBES, [2024](https://www.ipbes.net/nexus-assessment)) and why nature-related disclosure now asks companies to locate, evaluate, assess and prepare for their dependencies on nature (TNFD, [2023](https://tnfd.global/recommendations-of-the-tnfd/)).

## What biodiversity gives

Read from biodiversity to the sector it supports, strongest first.

| To                                                              | Strength | Through                          |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | -------------------------------- |
| [Food](/organization/model/sectors/food.md)                     | 0.6      | pollination and soils            |
| [Water](/organization/model/sectors/water.md)                   | 0.5      | watershed regulation             |
| [Health](/organization/model/sectors/health.md)                 | 0.4      | zoonotic spillover and medicines |
| [Infrastructure](/organization/model/sectors/infrastructure.md) | 0.2      | storm surge protection           |
| [Energy](/organization/model/sectors/energy.md)                 | 0.1      | biomass                          |

## What biodiversity depends on

Read from the sector it depends on, strongest first.

| From                                                            | Strength | Through                     |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | --------------------------- |
| [Water](/organization/model/sectors/water.md)                   | 0.6      | environmental flows         |
| [Food](/organization/model/sectors/food.md)                     | 0.6      | land conversion             |
| [Energy](/organization/model/sectors/energy.md)                 | 0.2      | pollution from backup fuels |
| [Infrastructure](/organization/model/sectors/infrastructure.md) | 0.2      | coastal and river defences  |
| [Health](/organization/model/sectors/health.md)                 | 0.1      | conservation capacity       |

## Teaching contexts

The contexts in which biodiversity is in play, whether hit first or reached through the coupling, with its stress after four rounds of the teaching cascade.

| Context                                                             | Role of this sector          | Stress after four rounds | How the sectors fail together                                                                                            |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [Hydropower reservoir](/organization/model/scenarios/hydropower.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.16                     | A dam stores water for power and flood control, and reshapes the river's sediment, fish passage and wetlands downstream. |
| [Drought](/organization/model/scenarios/drought.md)                 | Reached through the coupling | 0.23                     | Low river flows cut irrigation, cooling water and hydropower at once; food prices, nutrition and ecosystems follow.      |
| [Pollinator decline](/organization/model/scenarios/pollinator.md)   | Hit first                    | 0.63                     | Fewer pollinators lower yields of fruit and vegetables, with a direct path to diet quality.                              |
| [Coastal storm surge](/organization/model/scenarios/storm-surge.md) | Hit first                    | 0.75                     | Mangroves and dunes absorb the surge; where they are gone, ports, substations and water intakes take it.                 |

## Observing the sector

[**Nexus of Observatories**](/organization/systems.md)**.** Every Nexus platform and system includes its own observatory capability, covering remote sensing, in-situ instruments and edge deployments. Across every area where these observatories are implemented, they form the Nexus of Observatories, part of the not-for-profit programme architecture. The GCRI site describes the capability on its [Observatory](https://therisk.global/ecosystem/observatory/) page.

What the observatories record about biodiversity, and under what terms, is set for each country in its National Model and its profile scope agreement. Records follow the [Nexus Standards](/organization/institutions/nexus-standards.md) published on [nexustandards.com](https://nexustandards.com/standards/), whose text and status govern.

## International frameworks

| Framework                      | What it governs or shows                                                            | Source                                                                                        |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| IPBES nexus assessment         | Interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change            | [2024](https://www.ipbes.net/nexus-assessment)                                                |
| TNFD recommendations           | Fourteen disclosures and the LEAP approach to nature-related dependencies and risks | [2023](https://tnfd.global/recommendations-of-the-tnfd/)                                      |
| One Health (OHHLEP definition) | Ecosystem health as part of one health system                                       | [OHHLEP](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010537)                                        |
| Adapt Now                      | Nature-based solutions among the five adaptation areas costed                       | [2019](https://gca.org/reports/adapt-now-a-global-call-for-leadership-on-climate-resilience/) |

## Deeper reading in this documentation

[Ecosystem services (thesis)](/organization/organization/architecture/i.-thesis/x.-ecosystem-services.md)

## Sources

* Global Commission on Adaptation (2019). Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience. Rotterdam and Washington, DC: Global Center on Adaptation and World Resources Institute, 13 September 2019. <https://gca.org/reports/adapt-now-a-global-call-for-leadership-on-climate-resilience/>
* IPBES (2024). Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health (Nexus Assessment). IPBES/11/12/Add.1. Bonn: IPBES secretariat. doi:10.5281/zenodo.13850289. <https://www.ipbes.net/nexus-assessment>
* One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP), Adisasmito, W. B. et al. (2022). One Health: A new definition for a sustainable and healthy future. PLoS Pathogens 18(6): e1010537. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1010537. <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010537>
* Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (2023). Recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. September 2023. <https://tnfd.global/recommendations-of-the-tnfd/>
* The model data: the "Coupled risk, applied response" section of the [GCRI home page](https://therisk.global/).


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