Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Urgent need for an integrated policy framework for biodiversity loss and climate change

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, page 996 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

To the Editor — The international community is failing to fulfil multiple policies that aim to mitigate the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss1. For instance, the biodiversity targets set out by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for 2020, will not be fully met1. Current national policies informing on carbon dioxide emissions have the world on track for 2.3–4.1 °C by 2100 (https://climateactiontracker.org). The current trajectory may soon require considerably deeper cuts if we are to avoid catastrophic climate impacts that demand renovation of a changing world2,3. Discussions amongst politicians, policy makers and scientists have largely focused their efforts on dealing with these as separate issues. However, there is increasing recognition that these are fundamentally connected and that a more integrated global approach is essential if we are to resolve the apparent impasse. As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the announced one-year delay in the 2020 meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COP) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP26) and the CBD COP15 provides a unique opportunity to create coherent policy frameworks across the nexus of biodiversity, health, food, water and climate change and align both biodiversity and climate targets. Whilst the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are currently preparing a report that cuts across this traditional divide, we urge that the two COP meetings be combined, to move beyond aspirations to concrete policies designed to meet international commitments and build on the lessons being learnt today. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how the global community can come together to solve an international emergency. The world’s population has seen a (largely) global and rapid adoption of principles and practices that have limited the contagion, with economic stimuli to support the transition through the pandemic, and a reduction in carbon emissions4. The same approach in principle can be undertaken to set out a timetable of actions that will allow the world to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement.

To directly address the interdependent factors that are driving these major global challenges, Nature-based solutions (NbS) need to play a central role5,6. These cannot be solely a top-down approach. To support local communities, a ‘Just Transition’ will be essential as the world moves towards a low-carbon economy. A ‘One Health’ approach to decision making is needed to recognize the complex connections between human health and biodiversity at global to local levels7. Alongside these efforts, a research priority should be investigation into the effectiveness of NbS with changing climate and the range of synergistic solutions, to reduce the trade-offs between stakeholder groups8. But given the rapidly deteriorating state of the world’s environment, more aggressive measures are urgently required for which radical solutions may be necessary. The daring proposal to set aside half of the planet for wildlife conservation in perpetuity needs to be seriously considered9 in conjunction with other solution packages10 to sustain well-being for future generations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Díaz, S. et al. Science 366, eaax3100 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) (WMO, 2018)

  3. Prober, S. M., Doerr, V. A. J., Broadhurst, L. M., Williams, K. J. & Dickson, F. Ecol. Monogr. 89, e01333 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Le Quéré, C. et al. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0797-x (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Cohen-Shacham, E. et al. Environ. Sci. Policy 98, 20–29 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Seddon, N. et al. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 375, 20190120 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Settele, J., Díaz, S., Brondízio, E. & Daszak, P. Covid-19 stimulus measures must save lives, protect livelihoods, and safeguard Nature to reduce the risk of future pandemics. Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (27 April 2020); https://ipbes.net/covid19stimulus

  8. Colloff, M. J., Wise, R. M., Palomo, I., Lavorel, S. & Pascual, U. Ecosyst. People 16, 137–150 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Wilson, E. O. Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life (Liveright Publishing, 2016).

  10. Hawken, P. Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Roll Back Global Warming (Penguin Books, 2017).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Changing Earth Research Centre and Chronos 14Carbon-Cycle Facility, ARC Centre for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Chris Turney

  2. Land Use Ecosystems, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Wellington, New Zealand

    Anne-Gaelle Ausseil

  3. Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, CSIRO National Research Collections Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Linda Broadhurst

Authors
  1. Chris Turney
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anne-Gaelle Ausseil
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Linda Broadhurst
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chris Turney, Anne-Gaelle Ausseil or Linda Broadhurst.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Turney, C., Ausseil, AG. & Broadhurst, L. Urgent need for an integrated policy framework for biodiversity loss and climate change. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 996 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1242-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1242-2

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene