For the past week, high-level negotiations have been taking place at the annual climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with strong pressure from civil society to advance meaningful climate action, and ensure that countries already affected by the climate crisis get the funding and assistance they are entitled to.
We’re now in the second week of COP 27, and “Biodiversity day” is taking centre stage to highlight the links between climate change and biodiversity loss. Although they are deeply intertwined, the two emergencies are too often discussed separately. Addressing them in silos is a missed opportunity to adopt a holistic approach to our planetary emergencies.
Hence, here are 5 reasons why we need to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises together:
1. Climate change is a key driver of biodiversity loss
Due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the mid-19th century, the planet has already warmed by an average of +1.2°C. This translates into more extreme weather, with damaging impacts on nature. According to the latest IPCC report, shifts in rainfall patterns due to global warming are causing a quarter of the world’s natural landscapes to “now face longer fire seasons”. Extreme heat in oceans is resulting in coral bleaching at distressing scales. Since 1998, The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the largest in the world, has experienced six mass bleaching events with the latest one occurring this year and affecting 91% of the reef.
What’s worse, a recent UN Emissions Report has revealed that we are on the path to a +2.8°C world – with increasingly severe, and unpredictable consequences for humans and ecosystems. Despite this glooming prediction, biodiversity hotspots are already at high risk. In 2019, the IPBES (the IPCC’s biodiversity counterpart) revealed that globally, 1 million species are at risk of extinction – the highest figure in human history. A warming planet will undoubtedly put wildlife and ecosystems in peril.
In short, climate change acts as a threat multiplier for biodiversity loss, and research underlines that it could become the greatest pressure on biodiversity by 2070.
2. Biodiversity loss is worsening the impacts of climate change
The link between biodiversity and climate change is bidirectional. While the climate crisis leads to the degradation of terrestrial and marine biodiversity, biodiversity loss exacerbates the impacts of the climate crisis. Conversely, protecting biodiversity contributes to climate mitigation measures. This demonstrates that protecting and restoring ecosystems is a way to mitigate the climate crisis.
First, biodiversity is a crucial component of carbon sequestration. For example, healthy soils and peatlands, rich marine ecosystems and diverse forests allow for greater carbon storage. These ecosystems also play a crucial role in absorbing heat, thus helping to mitigate climate change.
But the role of healthy ecosystems does not end there, as they also improve resilience to natural disasters. For example, coral reefs and mangroves protect coastlines from extreme events in marine environments, while forested areas provide protection against landslides in terrestrial environments.
The protection of biodiversity must therefore be central to face the climate crisis.
3. Both crises have common causes
The colonial, extractive system that releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is the same that drives the destruction of ecosystems – all with harmful impacts on the rights and livelihoods of people.
The exploitation of oil for instance, is rooted in a legacy of land appropriation, forced displacement, infringements on Indigenous rights, and human rights abuses. Similarly, industrial agriculture, a key driver of nature loss, has dramatically expanded because of global land grabbing – in other words, dispossessing Indigenous and rural communities of their lands to make way for monocultures and animal farming.
Not only are these industries violating human rights and Indigenous rights, they are simultaneously accelerating climate change and driving nature destruction. Fossil fuel projects – which accounts for the vast majority of anthropogenic CO2 emissions – are degrading natural habitats, and contaminating the soil, air and water. Large-scale deforestation – the second contributor to CO2 emissions – is harming ecosystems and threatening species’ survival.
The climate and biodiversity crises have common drivers that have contributed to the accumulation of profit and wealth in the Global North, in a system that is relying on the exploitation of land and labour in many places of the Global South. Thus, tackling them requires placing justice at the centre of our actions.
4. A holistic approach is essential
Currently, climate change and biodiversity are discussed at separate tables in international negotiations. Yet, scientists stress the need to recognize the synergies between the two crises in order to solve them both.
Tackling climate change and biodiversity loss together means that we need to address their root causes. Colonialism has long played a role in driving nature destruction and exacerbating the effects of climate change. One example takes us back to the 2019-2020 destructive bushfires that ravaged Australia’s rural communities and ecosystems. These fires were not only intensified by the climate crisis, but also amplified by the “colonial displacement of Indigenous Peoples” which disrupted traditional land management practices.
Acting from a place of justice will ensure we address colonialism as a key driver of these two crises, and develop holistic mitigation measures based on human rights, Indigenous sovereignty and the leadership of local communities.
5. Justice is at the centre of these planetary crises
In the span of 2 months, COP 27 for climate change, and COP 15 for biodiversity will highlight the urgency of action to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and protect and restore ecosystems. As we’ve emphasized, to successfully address these multiple emergencies, we have to tackle them together. What we need is a unifying, systemic approach that connects biodiversity conservation and restoration with climate justice.
At COP 27, governments must recognise the essential role of nature in mitigation and adaptation, but also acknowledge that preserving nature is not a substitute for fossil fuel phase out. They must also remind themselves that we are a part of nature ourselves, through cultural and spiritual connections, and our relationships with the flora and fauna.
Protecting nature and fighting climate change must go hand in hand. That’s the only way climate justice can be achieved.