8. Linking conservation biology
with the climate change debate


Climate Change and Biodiversity Conservation



Climate change is too often seen by those responsible for biological conservation as a future problem that is currently insignificant in comparison to more immediate pressures. This results in the development of national conservation strategies that will sometimes be in place for decades, but which have not taken future environmental changes, such as demographics or climate, into account. Corridor systems between reserves, for instance, may be developed in complete ignorance of potential directional impacts of climate change on species distribution.




Conservation plans must include precautions against climate change



The gradual shift in recent years from structurally based, species­oriented conservation to an approach rooted in preserving ecological processes and complexity will require increased attention to the climate issue if it is to be successful. Recent advances in the development and management of marine protected areas have been stimulated by the obvious reality that many concepts derived from terrestrial conservation are of little relevance in the marine environment (not least the idea that you can demarcate an area of sea and thereby protect it). And just as the marine conservation debate is now centring on issues of ecosystem process, multiple­use, and the interaction of wide­ranging forms of environmental degradation and stress, so too is the forest management debate changing. An ecosystem management approach is being proposed to replace current forest management and landscape management approaches. The former seeks to maintain ecological integrity and harmonize human needs with sustainable utilization of natural resources, whilst the latter is based on the assumption that intensive management can mimic natural processes and transient events (e.g. clear­cuts mimic windblow and fire).


American conservation biologist Edward Grumbine has stated that: "Ecosystem management integrates scientific knowledge of ecological relationships within a complex socio­political and values framework toward the general goal of protecting native ecosystems' integrity over the long term". The long­term goals of ecosystem management will be impossible to achieve if climate change is not considered. Of critical importance is the confluence of interests between the proponents of ecosystem management and those advocating climate change adaptation strategies. Both believe it is necessary to create more protected areas, allow for flexible zoning of park boundaries, develop corridor and buffer systems, aim for ecosystem and landscape heterogeneity, reduce human impacts in core zones, and pay greater attention to natural succession and disturbance events such as fires and floods. Climate change can be used by conservationists as another argument for sound environmental management. In the language of government policy­makers, the maintenance of ecosystem integrity becomes a `no­regrets' strategy.


However, planning for greater resilience and adaptability of natural areas is not an alternative to increased efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases driving climate change. Governments and industries are a long way off target if the total amount of warming is to be limited to 1°C above the present global annual average temperature, or if the rate of warming is to be kept below 0.01°C a decade. WWF therefore urges governments as an initial step to enforce policies and measures which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized countries to 20 per cent below their 1990 levels by the year 2005. If this basic objective cannot be achieved, the long­term prognosis for the global diversity of species and ecosystems is very grave.






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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature