"We cannot solve the threats of human-induced climate change and loss of
biodiversity in isolation. We either solve both or we solve neither."
"Despite the profound threat of biodiversity loss, it is climate change that has long been considered the most pressing environmental concern. That changed this week in Paris, when representatives from 130 nations approved the most comprehensive assessment of global biodiversity ever undertaken."
"The report, spearheaded by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), found that nature is being eroded at rates unprecedented in human history.
One million species are currently threatened with extinction and we are undermining the entire natural infrastructure on which our modern world depends."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/06/biodiversity-climate-change-mass-extinctions
In Australia:
"Impacts of climate change on biodiversity
Climate change is predicted to be the greatest long-term threat to biodiversity in many regions and is listed as a key threatening process in state and Commonwealth legislation.
Australia has experienced cycles of climate change in the past, but the current changes are more serious due to the rate of change in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels and temperatures, and because ecosystems are already stressed by other human impacts.
The most vulnerable ecosystems include coastal ecosystems, alpine areas, rainforests, fragmented terrestrial ecosystems and areas vulnerable to fire or low freshwater availability.
Species that could become endangered or extinct include those living near the upper limit of their temperature range (for example, in alpine regions); those with restricted climatic niches; and those that cannot migrate to new habitats due to habitat fragmentation or lack of alternatives.
Helping biodiversity adapt
Addressing the impacts of climate change on biodiversity will require a long-term effort and new ways of thinking. To help species and ecosystems cope with climate change, OEH developed Priorities for Biodiversity Adaptation to Climate Change (PDF 1MB).These priorities focus on 4 key areas:
- Enhancing our understanding of the likely responses of biodiversity to climate change and re-adjusting management programs where necessary
- Protecting a diverse range of habitats through building a comprehensive, adequate and representative public reserve system in NSW, with a focus on under-represented bioregions
- Increasing opportunities for species to move across the landscape by working with partners and the community to protect habitat and create the necessary connections across landscapes
- Assessing adaptation options for ecosystems most at risk from climate change in NSW
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/biodiversity/about-biodiversity/climate-change-impacts
“There is no question we are losing biodiversity at a truly unsustainable rate that will affect human wellbeing both for current and future generations,” he said. “We are in trouble if we don’t act, but there are a range of actions that can be taken to protect nature and meet human goals for health and development
"The goal is to persuade an audience beyond the usual green NGOs and government departments. “We need to appeal not just to environment ministers, but to those in charge of agriculture, transport and energy because they are the ones responsible for the drivers of biodiversity loss,” he said.
A focus will be to move away from protection of individual species and areas, and to look at systemic drivers of change, including consumption and trade."
Robert Watson, the chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/03/climate-crisis-is-about-to-put-humanity-at-risk-un-scientists-warn
"It requires massive changes, from removing subsidies that lead to the destruction of nature and future warming of the Earth, to enacting laws that encourage the protection of nature; from reducing our growing addiction to fossil-fuel energy and natural resource consumption, to rethinking the definition of a rewarding life."
We need to redirect government subsidies towards more sustainable and regenerative farming.
This will not only contribute towards absorbing carbon and reducing the emissions of other greenhouse gases, it can also halt a frightening trajectory where farmland is so overloaded that eventually it just stops growing crops."
Up to 30% of koalas on New South Wales mid-north coast may have been
killed and many more may be endangered in South Australia in the
country’s ongoing bushfire crisis after experts warned fires are the
biggest threat Australian wildlife faces.
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| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/16/1m-a-minute-the-farming-subsidies-destroying-the-world |