Biodiversity

Key messages

Biodiversity conservation and climate action are intrinsically linked: biodiversity plays an important role in regulating the climate, yet at the same time, climate change affects all species and their habitats. Climate change impacts ecosystem dynamics and the suitability of habitats to biodiversity.
Ecosystem-based approaches can help to reduce the vulnerability of biodiversity, and ecosystems. Economic sectors can acknowledge and adapt to climate change by adopting an ecosystem-based approach. This can be achieved through habitat and species management, land-use adaptation and water management measures, which enhance the ecological infrastructure and increase robustness of local populations and habitats.
The EU policy framework, including the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Habitats Directive, the Birds Directive, the Nature Restoration Regulation, the Green Infrastructure Strategy, and the EU Regulation on Invasive Alien Species, provides for this, with associated measures under sectoral policies (e.g., the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy). Substantial investments are made in knowledge development to support biodiversity and restore or preserve healthy ecosystems.

Why climate change adaptation matters for the Biodiversity sector

Climate change is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Climate change also indirectly affects biodiversity because it interacts with non-climatic drivers such as land use change and land management practices.

Climate change involves shifts in the distribution and abundance of species and threatens existing food webs. Habitats may change or disappear, and populations of species may become increasingly isolated or vulnerable to extinction (first European Climate Risk Assessment - EUCRA). Climate change is projected to alter life cycles of plants and animals. For example, with the expected increase in temperatures, many plants will start growing and flowering earlier in spring and the growing season will persist for longer period in autumn. In addition, climate-induced species invasions may further erode the native biodiversity. The increased frequency and intensity of wildfires may lead to irreversible habitat loss. Such changes also affect the services that ecosystems provide to society, including Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation.