Saving all that we already have; conservation is very simple. The United Nations [1] recognized biodiversity and conservation as our strongest weapons against climate change. Conserving and restoring natural spaces, and the biodiversity they contain, is essential for limiting emissions and adapting to climate impacts.
Nations worldwide have historically approached the issues of nature conservation and climate change separately. Unfortunately, these isolated efforts have fallen short of the necessary scale to effectively combat biodiversity loss and address climate change. We contend that a more successful approach can be realized by aligning biodiversity protection targets with the preservation and restoration of habitats crucial for reducing greenhouse gas concentrations and facilitating natural and societal adaptation to climate change.
Achieving this success, however, demands a considerable amplification of environmental protection efforts, beyond the current standards. It is undeniable that attaining elevated targets, if realized, would result in a more gradual and less detrimental transition to a warmer world, benefiting both the environment and humanity. [2]
Summary
Over the past decade, we have gained a much clearer scientific understanding of the role of natural ecosystems in human well-being and planetary processes, and the scale of the challenge from rapid climate change. Given the plight of natural ecosystems and humanity's reliance on them for our survival, there is an urgent need to increase protection targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity to secure sufficient space for nature to thrive and adapt in our fast-changing world. This is so important because protected habitats must be part of frontline defence in efforts to mitigate climate change and to promote ecosystem and societal adaptation against its effects. Our goals need to coalesce in a joined-up strategy for planetary survival.
Improving Systems
While reducing emissions remains fundamental, mitigation is also essential [3]. The preservation and rejuvenation of natural habitats stand out as some of the most economically efficient approaches to mitigating emissions. However, while there are evident advantages in aligning the goals of safeguarding biodiversity and sequestering carbon, there is also a potential pitfall: misalignment between conservation and climate change mitigation efforts could inadvertently hinder each other's success.
Enhance Efficiency
References
[2] Roberts Callum M., O'Leary Bethan C. and Hawkins Julie P. 2020 Climate change mitigation and nature conservation both require higher protected area targetsPhil. Trans. R. Soc. B3752019012120190121
http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0121
[3] Griscom BW et al. 2017 Natural climate solutions. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 11645. (doi:10.1073/pnas.1710465114) Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar
Towards Carbon neutrality.