the solid connection between biodiversity and climate change

IFAW has long been a leader in recognizing the inherent link between biodiversity and climate change, the existential threat both issues pose to life on our planet, and the critical need to address both these threats together.

Today, the results of a comprehensive workshop report released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), confirmed that nature and climate are inextricably linked. According to the peer-reviewed report, authored by 50 of the world’s leading biodiversity and climate experts, unprecedented changes in climate and biodiversity, driven by human activities, have merged and increasingly threaten nature, human lives, livelihoods and overall well-being around the world. Biodiversity loss and climate change are both driven by human activities and mutually reinforce each other. Though this concept is widely accepted in the scientific community, it is a point often underappreciated among policy decision makers.

A holistic approach to environmental action

To date, legislative policies have largely tackled biodiversity loss and climate change independently of each other. Neither lives in isolation, and neither will be successfully resolved unless they are both tackled together. Addressing the synergies between mitigating biodiversity loss and climate change while considering their social impacts, offers an optimal opportunity to maximize benefits and meet global development goals, taking a critical step towards stewardship of our shared planet.

As climate change progresses, the distribution, functioning and interactions of organisms, and thus broader ecosystems, are increasingly altered. Put simply, as climate shifts, it causes shifts to where and how animals and plants live and essentially determines if such species can ultimately thrive. Just as changing temperatures produce stress in human communities—through rising sea water levels, increased incidence of storms and wildfires, and irregular seasons for instance—the vagaries of climate change also impose severe stress on animals and plant species. As species move, migrate, and potentially alter their behaviors with resultant shifts in their local populations, that in turn causes shifts in the very fabric of our landscapes and seascapes. Ecosystems depend on the presence of native flora and fauna to produce basic needs including clean air, drinkable water, and nutrient-rich soil and seas. As we lose that biodiversity, ecosystems degrade, even breaking down entirely. It is these situations that make clear the inherent interdependence of both species and their ecosystems.

Climate change, however, is not the leading driver of biodiversity loss – it is overexploitation and habitat destruction. Climate change is still a significant contributor, and one that is likely to ‘move up the ranks’ of significance as it intensifies. And just as climate change contributes to biodiversity loss, so too does the loss of biodiversity contribute to the changing climate. A relentless cycle that escalates as conditions escalate.

On one hand, healthy ecosystems can mitigate the damaging effects of climate change; wetlands can help to absorb rainfall and prevent excessive flooding, for instance. But biodiversity that is both rich and thriving can also protect against climate change itself. Take for example animals such as forest elephants, pangolins and whales, universally considered to be ‘ecosystem engineers’—with key roles in preserving the health of these ecosystems and facilitating the capture of more carbon. This form of carbon ‘sequestration’ helps keep excess carbon out of the atmosphere where it would otherwise absorb and reflect heat.

Projects that reflect this connection

Given the global impact of climate change and its influence in the efforts involved in the animal welfare and conservation space, IFAW will continue to ensure its programmatic efforts fully reflect the fundamental understanding of the link between both climate change and biodiversity protection.

Take for example, in Malawi. At a project site in Chikolongo, we have empowered a community to coexist with megafauna like elephants, hippos and crocodiles that help to keep the Lilongwe River ecosystem healthy. This in turn supports a landscape that further supports its inhabitants, and increases the community’s resilience to natural disasters including storms and wildfires, which are escalating in the face of climate change. In the US as well as internationally, we work to protect and restore wildlife corridors, allowing wild species to roam more freely in response to changing conditions, accessing food and water, and engaging in natural migratory and reproductive behaviors. Because sometimes the best road to conservation is actually a corridor.

In addition to our on-the-ground conservation work across the globe, we also advocate for laws and policies that support our conservation values. These range from strategies aimed at reducing overexploitation from wildlife trade, conserving and restoring habitats, shrinking carbon emissions, and protecting biodiversity. In the United States, where we applaud and support the efforts of the Administration to address climate change through a whole-of-government strategy, we are also advocating a National Biodiversity Strategy to ensure that biodiversity loss receives the holistic attention it requires as well. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in conservation. It is all interwoven, as diverse as the landscape and ecosystems we seek to protect.

We recognize that climate health as well as the health of animals and ecosystems, is critical to the survival of both people and livelihoods. All countries and cultures need to strive to conserve wildlife and habitats, to combat climate change literally from the ‘ground up’, so that we can all continue to not only survive—but to thrive—both now and well into the future.

Our hope is that this report is eye-opening to both people and policy makers, and ideally a catalyst for a real paradigm shift in how we address the dual existential threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.

We are already seeing the intense and ever-escalating impacts of human activities that threaten our natural world. It is time for us to take swift, collective action for a more sustainable future. Understanding is the keystone and action is the key.

-Azzedine Downes, IFAW President & CEO