Close link between preserving biodiversity and the widely held goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions

Biological diversity — or biodiversity — is the variety of life on Earth, in all its forms, from tiny organisms to humans. The biodiversity we see today is the result of 4.5 billion years of evolution, increasingly influenced by humans.

Biodiversity forms the web of life that we depend on for so many things – food, water, medicine, a stable climate, and economic growth, among others. As per available data, over half of global GDP is dependent on nature and then 1 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods.

As per reports due to global warming, up to one million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades due to human-made issues like deforestation, pollution, carbon emission, global warming, etc. Around 85 percent of wetlands, such as salt marshes and mangrove swamps, which absorb large amounts of carbon, have disappeared. 

Climate change poses a fundamental threat to places, species, and people’s livelihoods. To adequately address this crisis, we must urgently reduce carbon pollution and prepare for the consequences of global warming, which we are already experiencing.

How is climate change affecting biodiversity?

As discussed above, we are aware that the main cause of biodiversity loss remains humans. In ancient times, land was mainly used for livelihood like farming, cultivation, etc. but gradually the use of land has picked up different dimensions like industrialization, mining, and quarrying. As we can say that such human activities have already altered the use of wetlands, ice lands, grasslands, etc. whereby a lot of species lost their habitat and faced extinction. Moreover, due to the increasing population, people are forced to deforest and enter into animal habitats.

Excess use of plastic, excess use of fossil fuels, etc. embellish the consequence of global warming and leads to climate change. A lot of species lose their habitat due to global warming/increase in temperature. Climate change has altered marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems around the world. It has caused the loss of local species, increased diseases, and driven mass mortality of plants and animals, resulting in the first climate-driven extinctions.

On land, higher temperatures have forced animals and plants to move to higher elevations or higher latitudes, many studies say that a lot of species are moving towards the Earth’s poles. It creates far-reaching consequences for ecosystems. The risk of species extinction raises with every degree of increasing temperature due to the phenomena of global warming.

In the ocean, rising temperatures increase the risk of irreversible loss of marine and coastal ecosystems. A lot of marine creatures diapering due to the lack of an ecosystem.

Overall, climate change affects the health of ecosystems, influencing shifts in the distribution of plants, viruses, animals, and even human settlements. When human activities produce greenhouse gases, around half of the emissions remain in the atmosphere, while the other half is absorbed by the land and ocean. We can increase the carbon absorption by the land and ocean by:

• Protecting, managing, and restoring forests
• Preserving and restoring peatlands means keeping them wet, so the carbon doesn’t oxidize and float off into the atmosphere. 
• seagrasses and mangroves can also sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
• Conserving and restoring natural spaces, both on land and in the water, is essential for limiting carbon emissions and adapting to an already changing climate.

How to tackle climate change and biodiversity together?

Biodiversity and climate change are interlinked triple planetary crises the world is facing today. Both these need to tack together if we want to leap towards sustainable growth.   Governments deal with climate change and biodiversity through two different international agreements – the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), both established at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being

For example, if an organism eats green grass due to the absence of grassland, for survival they have to change its food habit. It may lead to some biological changes in its body system, behaviour, reproductivity, life cycle, etc. These changes collectively affect the ecosystem in an adverse way that will lead to changes in the entire system. These changes can be named as variance in biodiversity.

In the long run, changes may be developed in such a way that carnivores shifted their eating habit to omnivores and vice versa, depending upon the situation, these types of metamorphism will lead to changes in an ecosystem. We may come across a lot of such examples in our life cycle.

Further, climate change is causing geographical redistribution of plant and animal species globally. These distributional shifts are leading to new ecosystems and ecological communities, changes that will affect the human ecosystem. We have to review these current and future impacts and assess their implications for sustainable development goals.

From the above examples, we can reach the conclusion that biodiversity and climate changes are interconnected. To regularise this, the human being has to take a collective decision on a lot of issues like utilization of resources, use of plastic, use of bio-fertilizers, deforestation, saving water, etc.

Impact of urbanization on climate change

Studies reveal that by the year 2050, six billion people – two-thirds of humanity – will be living in towns and cities. That will be extraordinary challenges we are going to face in the coming decades.

 As urban centres grow, the locus of global poverty is moving into towns and cities, especially into the expanding informal settlements and slums. In the developing world, this is happening so fast that slums are mushrooming in what is termed the urbanization of poverty. Mushrooming of slums affects our economy and the health and well-being of citizens and planets. Slums are created when a large number of migrants arrive in the city with limited resources and are unable to afford decent accommodation. 

As per the World Bank report, half of the world's population is living in cities. And it is expected to be increased to 70 % by 2050. Urbanization is a significant driver for both prosperity and climate change. Cities contribute 80 % of the global economic activities and 70% of the Greenhouse gas emissions. In this scenario, time has already encroached to decide how we can transform the urban landscape to be greener and more resilient, and inclusive in a changing climate.

Research shows that carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) can play a strategic role in global decarbonization efforts in a number of ways. These include:

(i) reducing emissions in ‘hard-to-abate’ industries (those that are particularly difficult to decarbonize);

(ii) producing low-carbon electricity and hydrogen, which can be used to decarbonize various activities; and

(iii) removing existing CO2 from the atmosphere. The various roles of CCUS can also help make the energy supply more diverse and flexible, in turn contributing to energy security, which has become a growing priority for governments around the world.

Role and responsibility of Financial Intermediaries and policymakers

Policymakers should focus on new recommendations for businesses and individuals, on how to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Investors can respond to regulatory initiatives, implement net-zero strategies, and fulfil client net-zero mandates. Also, requires innovative solutions that expand access to green, resilient, and affordable homes, at scale.

An important goal is to develop global repositories that provide open access to data and would facilitate the use of metrics that reflect climate-related risks consistently and reliably across sectors and jurisdictions. Policymakers can encourage developers to build green by providing green housing subsidies in emerging markets where poor construction is a major contributor to carbon emissions by focusing on the following.

• Maximize energy efficiencies, and increase green spaces.
• Homes should be built with their life-cycle costs in mind. Energy and water usage should be taken into account when choosing designs and fixtures.
• Recycling Building Materials to improve waste management, beginning from the housing sector.
• Facilitate the use of metrics that reflect climate-related risks consistently and reliably across sectors.

Conclusion

Climate change is already affecting species in terrestrial, freshwater, and ocean ecosystems around the world, according to the IPCC. Future warming will make impacts worse. More frequent and more severe extreme events like droughts, floods, and fires, along with habitat degradation, changes in water cycles, and heat stress challenge most animal populations which all reflect a change in biodiversity. It is a crucial phenomenon to tackle.

Those impacts also affect humans and lead to more competition among all life for resources, leading to poverty, Loss of species resources scarcity, availability of food, drinking water, etc.

If we reduce deforestation, restore ecosystems, manage to help the soil to store more carbon, and improve farming techniques, nature can absorb more carbon as nature has self-healing techniques and nature offers protection as well. Healthy ecosystems can increase resilience and keep people safer from climate impacts. Let’s work for that and pray for that.