Climate Change & Biodiversity
“Men argue. Nature acts.”
― Voltaire
The balance of our planet is composed by interactions and diverse food chains between species. A lot of them are dependent on small species, such as insects. But sometimes the extinction of these small species can lead to the disappearance of many more. The term biodiversity is composed by “diversity” and this diversity is the essential point of our ecosystem because if the food chain is disturbed many animals or plants will lose their food source. Human being are also dependent on plants, animals and trees for food, oxygen, water.
Food-chain
Predation is the most obvious dependent relationship between species. In general, a predator and prey always belong to two different species, however cannibalism is observed in many cases between animals from the same species. A predator is any free organism that feeds on another. This definition makes it possible to consider herbivorous animals as predators of plants.
Similarly, parasitism can be considered as a special kind of predation. A parasite can feed and grow at the expense of a species. But unlike predators it is not always intended to kill its victim. Parasites can grow while living on another living being during his whole life.
The problem nowadays is that humankind can be considered as a predator for every species on our planet. We need plants for food, plants for medicine, plants for clothes, and animals. And every species is under the threat of humans even if the initial food chain wasn’t built like that. We are now a species without a predator and a species without threat is a species dangerous for the planet because it is possible to grow without any fear. We can see the result now, with almost 8 billion humans and a planet that gets more and more destroyed.
Climate Change and its effects
Climate change refers to the significant and long-term changes to a region’s climate. These changes can occur over a few decades, or millions of years. Climate change is able to alter entire ecosystems along with all the biodiversity living there. When slower changes happen, ecosystems and species, given the time, are able to evolve together and adapt to new conditions. But, when extreme change happens very quickly, like it is today, the ability of species to adapt quickly enough or relocate—assuming a suitable location exists—is a big concern.
As Earth warms and temperatures rise, it affects many habitats in different ways.
75 tons of ice breaks in Greenland every 20 Minutes . Glaciers always gave ice to the sea, but now it is happening twice as fast as it did 10 years ago. This results in sweet water blending with salt water, disrupting ocean currents as sweet water and salt water don’t mix wel and aquatic life can’t all adjust. This is also effecting the hunting migrations of sea life.
In the last 50 years with warming temperatures and the disappearing sea ice krill stocks, this part of the southern ocean have more than halved. Whole species assemblages are adapted to life on top of or under ice — from the algae that grow on the underside of multi-year ice, forming up to 25% of the Arctic Ocean’s primary production, to the invertebrates, birds, fish and marine mammals further up the food chain. The iconic polar bear at the top of that food chain is therefore not the only species at risk.
Seagrass
The seas fringing land make up less than a tenth of the world’s oceans, yet astonishingly, 90 percent of all marine creatures live in these coastal waters. This superabundance is due to the fact that the seafloor here is within reach of sunlight.
The shallow seas are vitally important in the fight against climate change. Seagrass absorb 35 times as much carbon dioxide as the same area of rainforest, and that reduces the damage caused by the recent warming of our seas.
Warmer spring temperatures can make birds to start their seasonal migrations or nesting and cause bears to emerge from hibernation earlier than usual. When bears emerge earlier, not enough food sources are available—since 80% of bears’ diets are plants—that may starve them. For those animals that rely on late summer plants to survive through the winter, warmer, drier summers may affect their ability to find enough food.
All across our planet crucial connections are being disrupted. The stability that we and all life relies upon is being lost.
A well-characterized and unprecedented crisis
The biodiversity affects virtually all environments and all ecosystems. It is explained by a multitude of factors, all related to human activities: climate change, destruction of natural environments due to industrial agriculture, deforestation, mining, urbanization, pollution of pesticides and plastics, excessive nitrogen and light pollution. It appears difficult to act effectively by limiting itself to only one of these causes.
This crisis is increasing incredibly fast. Its name, the 6th mass extinction, can be misleading from this point of view: it goes a thousand times faster than the previous ones and will affect us directly during our adult life. For example, in The Netherlands, erosion is the consequence of overuse of pesticides and fertilizer. This erosion made the soil almost solid, and this new aspect makes it hard for water to be absorbed. It has big consequences on biodiversity because insects can be killed directly with herbicides of because of the lack of plants and trees.
30% of bees in a hive die each year and beekeepers are searching for probable causes. The best explanation is the chemical products from Monsanto that are being used on our soils. These products are also the cause of heart attacks and starvation for all insects in contact with them, like bees, for example. The use of GMO’s and pesticides could also be a reason for the disappearance of bees, we don’t even fully know how GMO’s are dangerous but we can imagine when we see the results on bees.
During the last decades a lot of species disappeared and mostly birds. This is due to the loss of the biggest forests in the world but also the rise of pollution. In recent decades, many species have disappeared or been so severely affected, at the point of being in danger of extinction. This is what population analysis of 25,000 vertebrate species has recently established.
Another study showed that almost 421 million birds were lost from the beginning of the 20th century and they are currently following the same trend of extinction. People don’t really pay attention to this problem, even if it is one of the biggest threat of our time.
But even if the loss of birds is a major problem, the problem of the disappearance of insects is even worse. Humans need bees and other insects for the pollination of our fruits and vegetables. And if these insects are made to disappear the human kind would be in danger. We know that more than 75% of insects have disappeared in the last 27 years in the Netherlands and this disaster is supposed to be worse in the next decades with the appearance of 5G and threats like pesticides, the increase of GMO’s and climate change.
Every type of living-being is now affected by human activities, in the sea with the pollution of oceans or because of the pollution of the air. The greenhouse effect is also affecting all species, with a change of temperature that destroys the balance of our ecosystem. Scientists believe that 8% of species are now in threat of extinction solely due to climate change.
This isn’t just about losing wonders of nature, with the loss of even the smallest organisms we destabilize and ultimately risk collapsing the worlds ecosystem. The network that supports the whole of life on Earth.
Essential interactions between species
Biodiversity is not just about lists of species populating the environments. Each species depends on many others because of their interactions, through consumer relations, predation, parasitism, mutualism, or commensalism.
Any good gardener and forester knows it, a tree needs space to capture the maximum of light and to be able to develop at best, under the ground and in the air. However, a tree like beech needs to be well surrounded. By their roots, trees do not only collect water from the soil, they communicate and exchange minerals. They know that if they are numerous, they will be stronger to deal with the weather for example.
But they don’t only need other trees to survive, bees, insects and parasites are also necessary for trees. The bee with the role of pollinator is the biggest need for the survival of a tree, without this insect, trees can’t reproduce themselves.
This also applies to insect attacks. This little caterpillar who eats a piece of a leaf? The tree will not let it happen like that. It starts by producing a gas that will make insects leaving the tree. This gas will be felt by the tree next to him, and they will produce in their turn. Except that the scope of it is not very big. It is therefore better to use more reliable means of communication.
The roots and the mushrooms are all used in this goal of communication. Mushrooms are the fiber of the forest. Researchers found several kilometers of wired networks. Thus, the tree prevents its congeners from the danger. Of course, this protection is not infallible, but mutual help allows them to survive.
This help is also valid when a tree of the same species is sick. His neighbors will help him to recover till the end, giving him food from their roots. A trunk that seems dead can still live thanks to the solidarity of trees for several years. It is an absolute certainty that the loss of species in considerable proportions will have very strong ecological effects and immediate consequences on our daily life. The networks of species interactions within ecosystems are incredibly complex and their modeling remains a long-term scientific problem. The number of species intervening within these natural networks is considerable: the French fauna counts for example not less than 35.000 species of insects with a very important ecological role.
Every species matter
Another misconception hampers the understanding of the effects of this biodiversity crisis: ecosystems are not only governed by a few abundant and common species whose existence would be easier to preserve. Rare species are even more fragile because of their scarcity. They often assume major ecological roles despite their small numerical importance. We will feel their disappearance because of their functional lack in our ecosystem.
A report published in 2013, showed that rare species are able to take big roles in our ecosystems and sometimes they are more important than common ones, even if every species are important.
It is difficult for people to understand this type of result, because humankind think that he can control every ecosystem. But sometimes the loss of the smallest species can affect the entire environment.
Monoculture is the exact contrary of what biodiversity is. In some regions humans have totally killed the ecosystem by growing only one or two species of plants, animals or trees and erased every other. Without other organisms, palm trees for example, it is impossible for the tree to grow without herbicides, GMOs or fertilizers. So monoculture is a vicious circle because you kill other organisms to grow one type of tree which this type of tree can’t grow without other trees around him.
A study showed that a loss of species can affect also the capacities of our environment essentially in the decomposition, water purification, climate regulation or pollination.
Loss of biodiversity and climate balance
This harmful cycle is often underlined: human emissions causing disturbances leading to climate change causing a loss of biodiversity, the cycle itself causing damage to human societies.
But most of us ignore an extremely important thing: that biodiversity have huge consequences on the climate.
Considering the planet as a purely physical and mineral system in which biodiversity is hosted, is a completely false representation of reality.
Plants that cover the soil, for example, play a crucial role in direct climate regulation. Deforestation causes the local disappearance of clouds and rains. The biological component of the oceans (especially plankton) also absorbs a considerable amount of carbon and also more than a quarter of the CO2 emitted by human activities is absorbed by the oceans
All these factors caused by climate change are affecting Earth’s biodiversity. It crucial to understand its importance and ways we fix this.
Solutions
When we go into detail about the problems for biodiversity, it may seem like there is nothing we can do, but there are many solutions to sustain biodiversity. Here are some insights about regulations and what we can do on a local scale.
Protect the biodiversity
Different initiatives have been taken in the recent years to protect biodiversity. It includes the protection of specific species and protection of the global environment as well. International agreements to small local actions taken by municipalities of small groups of people. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was signed by 192 states at the 1992 the Earth meeting in Rio. It has three main objectives: to conserve biodiversity, to promote its sustainable use and to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits associated with the exploitation of genetic resources. The United Nations proclaimed in 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, to mobilize the planet to show the critical situation of global biodiversity. At the European level, the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy was signed at the Sofia Conference in October 1995.
The legal protection of species
The International Union for the Protection of Nature is the organization that writes a yearly list of endangered species called the “red list”. This list is made to make people aware of the number of species that may disappear in the following years.
This list is the first legal protection initiative, where it is totally forbidden to kill or use in any way these species. The trade of species is also prohibited by the convention of international trade of endangered species, (Washington convention) which explains the different species that are endangered and the legal sanctions made for each one. This agreement was created in 1973 and involves currently 173 countries. It also protects wild plants and their by-products that can be created from this exploitation.
The European fisheries council is an organization that sets quotas for each species of fish, but also for whales that are one on the most endangered species.
One of the main goal of this organization is to stop the over-exploitation of certain species, because if we don’t stop to exploit some species of fish we will certainly erase them from our oceans.
For the protection of ecosystems there are more than 50 nature and forest reserves all over the world that protect all the species of animals and plants into these reserves. For example the natura 2000 network protects many natural and semi-natural species all over Europe.
These organizations sets some rules to protect the environment and sanctions are also created for people who don’t want to respect it.
Prohibition to destroy the fauna and the flora of the site
Prohibition to damage the integrity of the site
Obligation to evaluate “appropriately” the possible impact of a project into this site.
The “technical protection” of biodiversity
The goal of this type of protection is to ensure that the environment is livable for all the species. It can be the measure of the water quality and the purification of it through purification systems. It is one of the best solution to reduce the loss of species, and in some regions in Europe, we found out that species start to return in their previous habitat (some fishes, the black stork…)
Public awareness about lobbying and politics
These initiatives are local, regional or even international with a lot of organizations fighting for this cause. For instance WWF, Greenpeace or Friends of Earth are very active all over the world to create awareness and create actions to change our ecosystem in a livable environment.
What can we do in our scale?
Choose local fruits and vegetables and rediscover the old varieties.
Choose products from organic farming, which is more respectful of the environment and soil.
Do not eat endangered fish species (tuna, cod, sole, hake...) and prefer fish from farms that respect the environment (organic, red label).
Buy furniture (or other products) made of wood, and choose wood from a sustainable exploitation.
Avoid the fashion of exotic pets (fish, snakes, spiders, turtles, parrots ...).
Avoid the purchase and use of chemical fertilizers in the garden and replace them with natural fertilizer made by composting organic waste and green waste from your garden.
Avoid buying and using dangerous products such as herbicides or insecticides in the home. There are always non-chemical solutions.
Observe species (for example, birds in my garden) and learn to identify them. Thus you can participate in the census of wildlife organized annually by some associations.
You can transform your garden or balcony into a biodiversity zone. For example, by planting old varieties of fruit trees or by hosting wild plants and flowers in a part of the garden. You then welcome animals (birds, insects, rodents, amphibians...), by installing shelters or a a basin full of water. Avoid exotic plants and always buy organic!
On vacation, prefer ecotourism or sustainable tourism to mass tourism, which often threatens local ecosystems.
Visit natural parks, while respecting the rules of good behavior, to support the creation of refuge zones for biodiversity.
Travel by train, by the far the least impactful way of traveling.
What do you implement in order to sustain biodiversity? Let us know by tagging #theconsciouschallenge
Curious about some more viewpoints on biodiversity? Check out these talks & documentaries!
James Borrell is a conservation biologist with a passion for challenging research expeditions. He founded the social enterprise Discover Conservation and is a member of the Inspired50. James’ research has taken him from the Peruvian Amazon to the High Arctic studying everything from critically endangered big cats, to tiny dragonflies and even dwarf trees. Even having visited remote parts of the tropics, James describes the hardest working environment as a bleak hillside in the Scottish Highlands with ‘typical’ Scottish weather. James’ particular interest is the genetics of endangered species and exploring how we can engage young people with conservation through citizen science and fieldwork. Despite all the bad news we are bombarded with daily about the state of our natural world, James is stubbornly optimistic and is convinced we are beginning to turn the corner. It is this message of optimism that James will aim to share in his talk.
It is estimated that by 2050 30% of the world biodiversity may be extinct. Sustainable development and reduced land conversion are currently promoted as the number one way to slow climate change and halt the ever increasing mass extinctions occurring across the globe. Extractive industries cause some of the most abrupt and extensive forms of land-use change. They not only impact biodiversity but destroy ecological processes and cause land degradation that has cascading effects on adjacent communities. It is clear that all people rely on extractive industries and that there is an imperative to discover ways to develop while also increasing biodiversity.
This ambitious documentary explains how animals and plants are important for our survival. How our actions, through climate change, can impact all living creatures on this planet and in the end impact humans as well. The balance is threatened by these changes which come exclusively from us.
600 people worked on Our Planet, accumulating 3,500 days of filming. This made it possible for spectators to watch nature as they never seen it. This documentary was made to create awareness for people about climate and biodiversity.
Lauren is an Environmental Studies graduate from NYU and former Sustainability Manager at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and the amount of trash that she has produced over the past three years can fit inside of a 16 oz. mason jar. Lauren Singer is author of the Zero Waste blog, Trash is for Tossers and founder of organic cleaning product company, The Simply Co. Through her blog, she has empowered millions of readers to produce less waste by shopping package-free, making their own products and refusing plastic and single-use items. Her work has been profiled by New York Magazine, MSNBC, NBC, AOL, CNN, Yahoo, Fox Business, BBC and NPR, among others.
International activist and scientist Dr Vandana Shiva here explains in 2 minutes how GMOs are a threat to biodiversity and farmers' livelihoods. She is currently traveling the world on a campaign on seed freedom and has published, together with the 'International Commission on the future of Seed' a small book called "The Law of the Seed".
The Bajau community in Wakatobi Marine National Park in eastern Indonesia demonstrates how we can't protect biodiversity without protecting cultural diversity. As Dr. Kelli Swazey explains in this talk, the Bajau people are grappling with the impacts of coral reef extinction, environmental degradation, and discrimination.
Massive vines that blanket the southern United States, climbing high as they uproot trees and swallow buildings. A ravenous snake that is capable of devouring an alligator. Rabbit populations that eat themselves into starvation. These aren’t horror movie concepts – they’re real stories. But how could such situations exist in nature? Jennifer Klos gives the facts on invasive species.
» Want to contribute to our Ecological Footprint Bible? Submit us your scientific articles! Mail us at info@theconsciouschallenge.org
Sources:
https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/climate-change-and-biodiversity
https://www.unep-wcmc.org/resources-and-data
https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/01/15/biodiversity-climate-change/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-is-becoming-a-top-threat-to-biodiversity/
http://www.rac-spa.org/sites/default/files/doc_climate_change/perez_2008_fr.pdf
https://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089.abstract
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-of-ecological-armageddon-after-dramatic-plunge-in-insect-numbers
https://www.pnas.org/content/98/10/5471
https://www.naturalnews.com/046769_Roundup_honeybees_colony_collapse_disorder.html
http://www.ipublishing.co.in/jesvol1no12010/EIJES2044.pdf
https://www.newsweek.com/migratory-birds-bee-navigation-5g-technology-electromagnetic-radiation-934830
https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/nederland-ligt-dwars-bij-invoering-bijenverdrag/
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/intelligenttrees/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/10/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-event-already-underway-scientists-warn
https://oceanbites.org/seagrass-blue-carbon/
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/dow-chemical-endangered-species?verso=true
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/07/30/how-big-of-a-problem-is-overpopulation/
https://www.audubon.org/news/europes-421-million-lost-birds
http://www.eklipse-mechanism.eu/jointly_identifying_research_needs
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-is-becoming-a-top-threat-to-biodiversity/
https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/climate-change-and-biodiversity
https://www.birdlife.org/projects/7-impacts-climate-change-biodiversity-and-ecosystem-services
https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/ecosystems-and-biodiversity
https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/8629/Impacts-climate-change-biodiversity.pdf?sequence=3&%3BisAllowed=
https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/impacts-du-rechauffement-climatique-sur-biodiversite
www.natura2000.fr
www.cdb.int
www.consilium.europa.eu
Film: Our Planet (2019), Intelligent Trees (2016)
