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
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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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