Our Response to Climate Change Is Missing Something Big, Scientists Say

UngulateNerd92

UngulateNerd92

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Yes, planting new trees can help. But intact wild areas are much better. The world needs to treat warming and biodiversity loss as two parts of the same problem, a new report warns.

Some environmental solutions are win-win, helping to rein in global warming and protecting biodiversity, too. But others address one crisis at the expense of the other. Growing trees on grasslands, for example, can destroy the plant and animal life of a rich ecosystem, even if the new trees ultimately suck up carbon.

What to do?

Unless the world stops treating climate change and biodiversity collapse as separate issues, neither problem can be addressed effectively, according to a report issued Thursday by researchers from two leading international scientific panels.

https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproj...biodiversity-collapse-climate-change.amp.html
 
I have always said that habitat loss is as much (if not more) of a threat to our planet than climate change, but regardless the solutions to both are the same.
 
birdsandbats said:
I have always said that habitat loss is as much (if not more) of a threat to our planet than climate change, but regardless the solutions to both are the same.
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I can actually totally agree with that! and as I have said time and time again, upon the recommendation of American biologist and author EO Wilson, we need to preserve two thirds of the planet if not more in it's natural wilderness form. Also, if we destroy, degrade, or encroach upon a habitat/ecosystem, the viruses, parasites, and bacteria will find new hosts and most likely we will be those hosts. As I have also said time and time again, people need to come to terms with the fact that infinite economic growth is not even physically possible on a finite planet. Economies should not be built and designed to grow, they should be built and designed to thrive. If you were stuck on a desert island, would you use up all the resources on that island as much and as quickly as possible? You probably wouldn't. Earth is essentially a finite island in the middle of an ocean that is our solar system. We need to place habitat loss at the center of our public discourse much more often!
 
Here is another relevant article.

"Climate and nature crises: solve both or solve neither, say experts

Restoring nature boosts biodiversity and ecosystems that can rapidly and cheaply absorb carbon emissions.

crises together or solve neither, according to a report from 50 of the world’s leading scientists.

Global heating and the destruction of wildlife is wreaking increasing damage on the natural world, which humanity depends on for food, water and clean air. Many of the human activities causing the crises are the same and the scientists said increased use of nature as a solution was vital.

The devastation of forests, peatlands, mangroves and other ecosystems has decimated wildlife populations and released huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Rising temperatures and extreme weather are, in turn increasingly damaging biodiversity."

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...rises-solve-both-or-solve-neither-say-experts
 
Here is another relevant article.

World will fail unless climate and nature crises are tackled together, says major report

The world’s climate and nature crises cannot be solved unless they are tackled together, scientists have warned in a major report.

Global temperatures are already nearing levels deemed unsafe by climate scientists, while 77 per cent of the world’s land and 87 per cent of its oceans have been degraded by humans – putting more species at risk of extinction than at any other time in human history, according to the analysis.

To address the escalating crises, the world must end deforestation, rewild vast stretches of the land and sea and rapidly switch to plant-based diets, says the report, which is published by more than 50 of the world’s leading climate and nature scientists.

World will fail unless climate and nature crises are tackled together, says major report
 
Here is another relevant article

Tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together: UN panel

The world must tackle the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss together, two UN expert groups meeting together said Thursday, warning against measures to combat global warming that harm nature.

In the first ever collaboration between the United Nations' intergovernmental panels on climate and nature loss, the scientists said that while the twin threats were mutually reinforcing, they had historically been treated as if they were independent of each other.

A peer-reviewed workshop report, based on virtual discussions between experts from the IPBES biodiversity and IPCC climate panels, warned that a number of planned interventions against global heating would adversely impact nature.

These include planting bioenergy crops over large land areas, which are detrimental to ecosystems.

They also cautioned against planting trees to suck up carbon pollution in ecosystems that have not historically been forested, which often damages biodiversity and food production.

Meet Tracy Whitehead, the one incredible volunteer who keeps the whole Turtle Rescue Network going
 
Here is another relevant article.

Scientists call for solving climate and biodiversity crises together




    • A new report from United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) highlights the importance of confronting climate change and biodiversity loss together.
    • Global climate change and the unprecedented loss of species currently underway result from a similar suite of human-driven causes, the report’s authors write.
    • As a result, solutions that take both issues into account have the best chance of success, they conclude.
The push to halt climate change too often neglects the interconnected issue of biodiversity loss, according to a recent report from a panel of scientists with the United Nations.

“What we want to emphasize here is how relevant biodiversity conservation is for climate change mitigation,” said Anne Larigauderie, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), in a press conference launching the June 10 report.

In a first-ever collaboration, scientists from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and IPBES teamed up to draw on research looking at the convergence of the biodiversity and climate crises, how they’re affecting all life, including humans, on Earth and what’s being done about them.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...climate-and-biodiversity-crises-together/amp/
 
Here is another relevant article.

Loss of biodiversity poses as great a risk to humanity as climate change

Technology has a growing role to play in monitoring, modelling and protecting ecosystems, writes Catherine Brahic

Human societies depend on healthy ecosystems. People consume their products in the shape of fish, meat, crops, timber and fibres such as cotton and silk. Medicines may be directly harvested from the natural world or inspired by molecules and mechanisms found within it. The ecosystems that crops depend upon are regulated by living things. Through photosynthesis, trees and other plants take in carbon and pump out oxygen. In doing so they remove roughly 11bn tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, equivalent to 27% of what human industry and agriculture emits (the oceans absorb a further 10bn tonnes).

The services that ecosystems provide to humanity depend, in turn, on there being a diversity of living things. More than 75% of global food-crop types, including coffee, cocoa and almonds, are pollinated by animals. The complex web underpinning every food chain and ecosystem means that the narrow range of species that humans eat and exploit cannot be sustained without the existence of a much greater diversity of animals, plants and bacteria.

https://amp-economist-com.cdn.amppr...as-great-a-risk-to-humanity-as-climate-change
 
Here is another relevant article

UN urges intense restoration of nature to address climate and biodiversity crises

Facing the triple threat of climate change, loss of nature and pollution, the world must deliver on its commitment to restore at least one billion degraded hectares of land in the next decade—an area about the size of China. Countries also need to add similar commitments for oceans, according to a new report by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), launched as the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 gets underway.

UN urges intense restoration of nature to address climate and biodiversity crises
 
Here is another relevant article.

Landmark Report Links Earth’s 2 Biggest Existential Threats for the First Time

Mass extinction and the climate emergency each pose an existential threat to life as we know it. A new landmark report shows they must be tackled in tandem to give nature—and by extension, us—the best shot at survival.

The report, released on Thursday morning, was compiled by 50 top climate and extinction experts for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Thursday morning. It’s the first-ever joint collaboration between these two bodies, both of which have released seminal reports in recent years on the climate crisis and the collapse of nature. Their collaboration shows the urgency of these issues as truly catastrophic impacts loom.

So far, the authors say, most international policy has treated biodiversity loss and global warming like they are independent issues, and world leaders have formed separate conventions and intergovernmental bodies to take on each one. But leaders must more carefully consider how the issues intersect if they actually want to solve the crises.

https://gizmodo-com.cdn.ampproject....th-s-2-biggest-existential-thr-1847067725/amp
 
Here is another relevant article

Time to integrate global climate change and biodiversity science-policy agendas

The anthropogenically driven climate crisis is one of the greatest existential threats to global human health and welfare, exacerbating global biodiversity declines. Biodiversity loss driven by climate change, but also by habitat loss and degradation, invasive species and pollution, is in turn deepening the impact and effects of the climate crises. Given these linkages, there is increasing recognition of the need for a more integrated approach to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are defined as actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Examples of NbS include the setting up of protected areas, as well as restoration and rewilding projects.

Time to integrate global climate change and biodiversity science-policy agendas
 
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