Climate focus "good news for species"

Climate focus 'good news for species'

VIEWPOINTRussell Mittermeier
Climate change could actually benefit some of the world's most endangered species, says Conservation International president Russell Mittermeier. In this week's Green Room, he explains that conservationists should capitalise on the worldwide attention being given to global warming.

The good news is that the unprecedented spotlight on climate change is also shedding light on how tropical forests balance our Earth's climate Climate change could be the best thing that ever happened to the amazing array of animal and plant species that make up the Earth's biodiversity.
Don't get me wrong; climate change is the most serious environmental threat we have ever encountered, and it is already taking a terrible toll on species, as well as people, all over the world.
The silver lining is that climate change has triggered a universal wake-up call that we all hear, and are beginning to heed.
Never before have so many sectors of society been equally concerned and motivated to combat an environmental threat.
Of course, some die-hard pessimists say it's too late, that the climate change train has left the station and there is nothing we can do but get ready for catastrophic consequences.
Nothing could be more wrong. Just ask the thousands of participants at the World Conservation Congress (WCC) now taking place in Barcelona, Spain.


Representatives from governments, indigenous peoples, industry and environmental groups are meeting to present innovations and create partnerships.
Climate change and protecting species are focal points, and pessimism is not on the agenda. Instead, smart constructive ideas for solutions are being shared.
We estimate the Earth harbours a minimum of six million living species, from microscopic bacteria to magnificent great apes.
The major news announced at the WCC on Monday was that the latest assessment of the world's mammals shows more than 20% to be threatened with extinction.
That includes 188 mammals, such as the Iberian Lynx, in the highest threat category of Critically Endangered.
This assessment is part of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which now includes 44,838 species, of which 16,928 (38%) are threatened with extinction.
Self preservation society
Why should people care about the fate of these plants and animals?
In the most simple terms, we should care because the quality of our lives ultimately depends on them.
Without species diversity, we wouldn't have the healthy ecosystems that supply our food, cleanse our air and water, provide sources of life-saving medicines and help stabilise our climate.


We would also miss out on a free and ubiquitous source of miraculous beauty and endless possibilities.
We continue to discover new species every day. Just since 1994, we've discovered 54 new lemur species on the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar.
The thrill of documenting a new primate is tempered, however, with the knowledge that many species will become extinct before they are even discovered.
On a global scale, we're losing species 1,000 times faster than what scientists consider normal.
It is an insidious, silent epidemic that could wreck our planet's ability to heal itself.
While the Red List does make headlines, somehow the irreplaceable loss of species does not stay in the minds of the general public, and it has certainly never prompted major financial investments.
This has always puzzled me. As a colleague of mine puts it: "Imagine what would happen to us if rainfall was a thousand times more than normal? What if snowfall were a thousand times more than normal? What if rates of disease transmission for malaria or HIV/AIDS were a thousand times higher than they are now? That is what is happening to plant and animal biodiversity today."
Just as climate change threatens us with rising sea levels, droughts, floods and more category five hurricanes, it is also one of the greatest threats to species.
We could lose more than 30% of the Earth's plants and animals this century due to shifts in the Earth's climate.


So where is the silver lining?
The good news is that the unprecedented spotlight on climate change is also shedding light on how tropical forests balance our Earth's climate.
At least and possibly much more than 20% of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change come from forest destruction - that's more than from all the world's cars, trucks, airplanes and trains combined.
At the same time, forests are effectively our life support system, absorbing carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen.
Those same tropical forests are also home to the world's greatest preponderance of species diversity.
Remove the forests and you will also exterminate countless species. By the same token, the species are essential to healthy forests for many reasons, including pollination and seed dispersal.
There is still time to protect these forests while also providing economic opportunities to developing countries and local people.
One of the key issues at the WCC in Barcelona is how conserving standing tropical forests to fight climate change must be included in a new United Nations agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the current climate change treaty that expires in 2012.
If we ensure that nations will be compensated for forest conservation that reduces emissions, we will also contribute to redressing some of the huge economic imbalances that exist in the world, since many tropical forest countries are among the more economically stressed.
A message Barcelona can send to the rest of the world is that it is not too late to protect species as well as combat climate change.
On both counts, the welfare of humanity is at stake.
Russell A. Mittermeier is president of Conservation International and chairman of global conservation group IUCN's Species Survival Commission's Primate Specialist Group