Connecting biodiversity and climate change mitigation and adaptation: Report of the Second Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change

Biodiversity has a very important role to play in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The good management of ecosystems such as wetlands and forests, remains an effective mitigation option given the high sequestration potential of natural systems. The permanence of carbon sinks is also tied to the maintenance or enhancement of the resilience of ecosystems.

As climate change threatens the environment, ecosystem services – such as food and shelter, protecting communities from drought and floods, basis of traditional knowledge and innovations – will become even more important and valued. This report provides eight key messages by world-renowned experts in the fields of biodiversity and climate change to help us better understand how biodiversity and climate change interact and how we can best work together to achieve our common goals.

A specific section is dedicated to the relations between Climate Change Adaptation and Biodiversity, highlighting three main aspects: firstly the need to adopt adaptation strategies and practices to maintain biodiversity itself in the face of climate change; secondly, the potential impacts of broader adaptation activities on biodiversity, and, thirdly, the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.

The report assesses also the pros and cons of mechanisms for reducing the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, including ecosystem-based adaptation, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and other land-use management activities. Impacts of alternative energy, geo-engineering and other adaptation activities on biodiversity are also considered.