Actions to halt biodiversity loss generally benefit the climate

Yunne-Jai Shin¹, Guy F Midgley², Emma R M Archer³, Almut Arneth⁴, David K A Barnes⁵, Lena Chan⁶, Shizuka Hashimoto⁷, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg⁸, Gregory Insarov⁹, Paul Leadley¹⁰, Lisa A Levin¹¹, Hien T Ngo^{12

13}, Ram Pandit^{14

15}, Aliny P F Pires¹⁶, Hans-Otto Pörtner¹⁷, Alex D Rogers¹⁸, Robert J Scholes¹⁹, Josef Settele^{20

21}, Pete Smith²²

Affiliations

¹ MARBEC, IRD, Univ Montpellier, IFREMER, CNRS, Montpellier, France.
² School for Climate Studies, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
³ Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa.
⁴ Atmospheric Environmental Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
⁵ British Antarctic Survey, NERC, Cambridge, UK.
⁶ International Biodiversity Conservation Division, National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ Department of Ecosystem Studies, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ School of Biological Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁹ Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy for Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
¹⁰ Laboratoire d'Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Orsay, France.
¹¹ Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, California, USA.
¹² Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.
¹³ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Bonn, Germany.
¹⁴ Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
¹⁵ Global Center for Food, Land and Water Resources, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
¹⁶ Department of Ecology - IBRAG, Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁷ Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.
¹⁸ REV Ocean, Lysaker, Norway.
¹⁹ Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
²⁰ Department of Conservation Biology and Social-Ecological Systems, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Halle, Germany.
²¹ German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
²² Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.

PMID: 35098619
PMCID: PMC9303674
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16109

Review

Actions to halt biodiversity loss generally benefit the climate

Yunne-Jai Shin et al. Glob Chang Biol. 2022 May.

. 2022 May;28(9):2846-2874.

doi: 10.1111/gcb.16109. Epub 2022 Feb 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ MARBEC, IRD, Univ Montpellier, IFREMER, CNRS, Montpellier, France.
² School for Climate Studies, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
³ Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa.
⁴ Atmospheric Environmental Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
⁵ British Antarctic Survey, NERC, Cambridge, UK.
⁶ International Biodiversity Conservation Division, National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ Department of Ecosystem Studies, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ School of Biological Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁹ Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy for Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
¹⁰ Laboratoire d'Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Orsay, France.
¹¹ Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, California, USA.
¹² Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.
¹³ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Bonn, Germany.
¹⁴ Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
¹⁵ Global Center for Food, Land and Water Resources, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
¹⁶ Department of Ecology - IBRAG, Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁷ Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.
¹⁸ REV Ocean, Lysaker, Norway.
¹⁹ Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
²⁰ Department of Conservation Biology and Social-Ecological Systems, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Halle, Germany.
²¹ German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
²² Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.

PMID: 35098619
PMCID: PMC9303674
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16109

Abstract

The two most urgent and interlinked environmental challenges humanity faces are climate change and biodiversity loss. We are entering a pivotal decade for both the international biodiversity and climate change agendas with the sharpening of ambitious strategies and targets by the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Within their respective Conventions, the biodiversity and climate interlinked challenges have largely been addressed separately. There is evidence that conservation actions that halt, slow or reverse biodiversity loss can simultaneously slow anthropogenic mediated climate change significantly. This review highlights conservation actions which have the largest potential for mitigation of climate change. We note that conservation actions have mainly synergistic benefits and few antagonistic trade-offs with climate change mitigation. Specifically, we identify direct co-benefits in 14 out of the 21 action targets of the draft post-2020 global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, notwithstanding the many indirect links that can also support both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. These relationships are context and scale-dependent; therefore, we showcase examples of local biodiversity conservation actions that can be incentivized, guided and prioritized by global objectives and targets. The close interlinkages between biodiversity, climate change mitigation, other nature's contributions to people and good quality of life are seldom as integrated as they should be in management and policy. This review aims to re-emphasize the vital relationships between biodiversity conservation actions and climate change mitigation in a timely manner, in support to major Conferences of Parties that are about to negotiate strategic frameworks and international goals for the decades to come.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation; carbon sequestration; climate change mitigation; convention on biological diversity; nature-based solutions; restoration.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

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References

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Actions to halt biodiversity loss generally benefit the climate

Affiliations

Actions to halt biodiversity loss generally benefit the climate

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources