The climate crisis and the loss of animal species must be tackled simultaneously. That’s what scientists from the United Nations say.
They are afraid that some measures against global warming will come at the expense of certain animal species. Certain climate measures can accelerate the extinction of plants and animals. A joint study by various UN scientific bodies, published on Thursday, shows that both problems can be tackled simultaneously.
Measures like expanding bioenergy crops grown for energy, such as maize, or attempts to extract carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the ground would use as much land – twice as much as India – that the impact is “fairly catastrophic for biodiversity”.
Each problem has been looked at separately for a long time. Other government agencies are responsible for both climate change and biodiversity. Yet the problems are intertwined and ultimately harm humans, the scientists conclude.
Solutions
There are many measures that can address both problems simultaneously, the report said. “Protecting and restoring carbon-rich ecosystems,” such as tropical forests and peatlands, should be a high priority, said study co-author Pete Smith, a plant and soil scientist at the University of Aberdeen.
Incidentally, it is true that some climate solutions can lead to the loss of animal species, but that is not the case the other way around; efforts to combat the extinction of animal species will not harm the climate.
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