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Related Experiment Video

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Field Collection and Laboratory Maintenance of Canopy-Forming Giant Kelp to Facilitate Restoration

Field Collection and Laboratory Maintenance of Canopy-Forming Giant Kelp to Facilitate Restoration

Published on: June 7, 2024

Climate change mitigation and nature conservation both require higher protected area targets.

Callum M Roberts¹, Bethan C O'Leary¹, Julie P Hawkins¹

¹Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York YO10 5NG, UK.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|January 28, 2020

Summary

Integrating nature protection with climate action is crucial. Higher environmental protection targets, like 30% of land and sea, are essential for halting biodiversity loss and mitigating climate change impacts.

Keywords:

biodiversity conservation natural climate solutions nature-based solutions

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Environmental Science
Conservation Biology

Background:

Current nature protection and climate change policies are pursued in isolation, failing to achieve necessary scale for halting biodiversity loss or mitigating climate change.
Existing environmental protection targets (10% sea, 17% land) are insufficient to address global ecological and climate crises.

Purpose of the Study:

To advocate for aligning biodiversity protection targets with climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
To demonstrate how increased habitat protection and restoration can reduce greenhouse gas concentrations and enhance societal and natural climate adaptation.

Main Methods:

Policy analysis of separate nature protection and climate change mitigation/adaptation efforts.
Argumentation for the necessity of higher environmental protection targets (e.g., 30% by 2030).
Evaluation of the potential benefits of increased protected areas for climate regulation and adaptation.

Main Results:

Separate environmental policies have proven inadequate for effective climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.
Higher protection targets (e.g., 30% of land and sea) are proposed as essential for success.
Achieving these elevated targets would significantly slow and reduce the damaging impacts of a warming world on ecosystems and human societies.

Conclusions:

Aligning biodiversity conservation with climate action through ambitious habitat protection and restoration is key to success.
Substantially increasing protected areas is critical for mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts.
Higher environmental protection targets offer a viable pathway to a less damaging transition to a warmer climate for both nature and people.