ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the international coverage of Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and an Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report published in 2016 and 2018, and suggests factors to examine when explaining why the 2019 Global Assessment Report (GAR) was different. The historical lack of media interest has been matched by a relative paucity of academic research into international media coverage and the communication of biodiversity loss. The chapter compares the coverage and research into climate change and explores some of obstacles to reporting on biodiversity. IPBES’s GAR launched on 6 May 2019 stressed the potential loss of around one million animal and plant species, many within a few decades. An extensive survey of English-language press articles from the USA, Canada, and the UK between 1991 and 2016 suggested that media coverage of climate change was up to eight times higher than that dedicated to biodiversity issues.
