The United Nations plans to issue its first comprehensive scientific report on biodiversity, looking hard at the threat of extinction for Earth’s plant and animal species and what it means for humanity.

Report Chairman Robert Watson said last month that there are five major threats to biodiversity: the conversion of forests and grasslands into farms; overfishing of the oceans; climate change; and pollution and the spread of invasive species.

Watson said governments are beginning to take the issue seriously because if they cannot solve the intertwined threats of extinction and climate change, the world may end up hungrier and thirstier.

For the past week, scientists from around the globe have met in Paris to come up with an authoritative statement. The summary from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services must be unanimously approved by more than 100 nations.

When the meeting started, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay told negotiators that the report “will force us to face this dramatic degradation of biodiversity and to share this evidence with society as a whole.”

Associated Press

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