Reunite international climate change mitigation efforts with biodiversity conservation and wilderness protection.
Nature loss and the adverse effects of climate change are fundamentally interconnected. We cannot solve one of these problems without solving the other.
The climate system consists of the interraction of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the geosphere and the biosphere.
Bringing efforts to protect nature and the climate together is necessary to address the biodiversity extinction crisis and preserve the ecosystem services such as freshwater on which all humans rely. We must ensure that the carbon already stored in primary forests, wetlands, peatlands, and other intact ecosystems stays there.
Large-scale nature conservation is a first-order climate change strategy for both mitigation and adaptation. Keeping green carbon stored in large intact natural landscapes is a mitigation strategy. Connectivity conservation is an adaptation strategy. Both are needed.
Video: Nature and Climate: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Contacts:
Dr. Harvey Locke – Co-founder and Strategic Advisor, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, Vice Chair for Nature Positive.
