1 Contribution of Biodiversity to Sustainable Development Goals A contribution of DIVERSITAS (international programme of biodiversity science) and ICSU (International Council for Science)

Executive summary We provide three key recommendations on the importance of integrating biodiversity in the development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and examples of biodiversity-related targets. Key recommendation 1 To develop biodiversity-related targets for SDGs related to the different determinants of human well-being such as food, health, water, energy. Key recommendation 2 To integrate biodiversity-related issues into the SDGs related to enabling processes for human well-being such as governance systems, equity, measures of growth. Key recommendation 3 To develop a set of targets to ensure the conservation of intrinsic value of biodiversity and its role in the maintenance of the Earth "life-support system " as part of an SDG on biodiversity and ecosystems. Context Biodiversity is the variety of genes, species and ecosystems including a wealth of ecosystem functions and processes. Biodiversity is at the foundation of Earth’s life support systems on which past and current human generations have depended, and on which future generations will depend. It yields direct and indirect benefits that support human and societal needs of poorer and richer nations, such as health, food, water, energy, climate regulation, etc.1 (Figure 1), and provides an environmental adaptive capacity that secures current and future generations from impacts of global change. Biodiversity is, by excellence, a cross-cutting issue of all dimensions of human well-being