World leaders must take advantage of a crucial opportunity to develop a much-needed, joined-up approach to tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, say scientists from ZSL and York University. Without this, work to address one crisis could inadvertently harm progress on the other.
Published today (Tuesday, July 23) in the Journal of Applied Ecologya paper by the international conservation organization ZSL and researchers from York University, Toronto, entitled ‘The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement need a joint work program for climate, nature, and people’, conceptualises how a joint work program between The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) could be established.
Highlighting the issues that the joint program should address, and recommendations for successful implementation, the article argues that such a unified political instrument is critical to meeting international obligations under both the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Professor Nathalie Pettorelli, who has long advocated collective solutions to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, is co-author of the article and researcher at the ZSL Institute of Zoology explained: “We urgently need a global approach that tackles the nature and climate crises. together – because they are intrinsically linked.
“The UNFCCC and CBD are incredible platforms to provide the evidence and lead the way for the changes we need, but higher levels of integration between the biodiversity and climate change agendas are needed to close implementation gaps .
“The upcoming Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the CBD presents a clear policy window for the two conventions to introduce a formal governance structure that brings together the ideas, people, organizations and processes needed to connect the dots on how we can both can stabilize our climate if we restore our nature.”
World leaders will gather later this year for two global conventions to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss separately. In October, the CBD will meet in Columbia for the 16th United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16). A week after its conclusion in November, the UNFCCC will meet in Azerbaijan for the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29).
Nathalie added: “With the closely related policy agendas of the upcoming UNFCCC and CBDs COPs, negotiators have an important opportunity to take coordinated, bold and transformative action to deliver a new, more integrated and coherent approach to tackling the intertwined nature and climate crises. The urgency is such that both treaties must now work together and capitalize on the many potential synergies we have highlighted between climate change and biodiversity policy to change humanity’s trajectory towards a sustainable future.”
Government representatives at COP16 will be charged with assessing the status of implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2022, which sets out a path for humanity to live in harmony with nature by 2050 – with the objectives including halting and reversing biodiversity loss By 2030. Discussions at COP29 will be crucial towards the landmark international treaty to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, known as the Paris Agreement.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are inherently linked; Rapidly changing conditions are causing the loss of species and the subsequent breakdown of ecosystems around the world – however healthy and functioning ecosystems are absolutely critical to tackling climate change and mitigating its effects.
Professor Idil Boran, co-author and researcher at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University, Toronto, said: “The world is currently at a crossroads. World leaders have signed international treaties committing them to action to tackle these two crises – – but there is currently a huge gap in the tools available to ensure this action comes together. We need a program that fills these gaps, identifies areas where climate action could harm biodiversity, makes clear recommendations and develops methods to monitor progress on shared goals. .
“Without this, we risk that action to tackle one crisis will cause major setbacks for others. For example, replacing natural grasslands with forests can help capture and store planet-warming carbon dioxide, but at the expense of ecosystems and nature.” wildlife that previously used the land.”
Properly implemented nature-based solutions (NbS) – natural systems that help achieve societal goals – simultaneously address climate change and biodiversity loss, while also delivering benefits to people. For example, restoring mangroves not only helps store carbon, but also protects the homes of species such as the endangered Bengal tiger and the critically endangered Philippine cockatoo, and provides food and resources for local communities.
The document also calls for the critical need for a reallocation of resources to address the imbalances in available resources and support for action to tackle climate change compared to biodiversity loss.
Nathalie added: “There is a wider need for world leaders to ensure they put nature at the heart of their decision-making. Functioning ecosystems aren’t just important for tackling rapid climate change – their loss impacts every aspect of our lives, from food security to access to clean water. We need these to be recognized and for conservation to be given the resources it needs to be part of the solution to tackling climate change and defending human wellbeing.”
From restoring mangrove forests in the Philippines equivalent to more than a thousand football fields, to calling for the redesign of urban spaces to help protect city dwellers from the worst impacts of climate change; This call is part of ZSL’s broader global work urging and implementing urgent action to build a better future for people and the planet.
ZSL believes that nature can recover and that conservation is most effective when it is driven by science. ZSL calls on science to drive all global decisions about the environment and biodiversity and build a healthier future for wildlife, people and the planet. Learn more and support ZSL’s leading, collaborative science and conservation work at www.zsl.org
