Wild animals enhance climate solutions across social-ecological systems

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Climate Change Science

Background:

• Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• Wild animal conservation has been largely separate from climate action initiatives.
• Recent work highlights the multifaceted value of integrating conservation into climate solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize existing research on incorporating wild animal conservation into NbS.
• To identify critical issues for the large-scale integration of coupled conservation and climate priorities.
• To examine the application across diverse social-ecological systems.

Main Methods:

• Literature synthesis and conceptual framework development.
• Analysis of interdisciplinary research from Lamba et al. and Schmitz et al.
• Exploration of social-ecological system dynamics.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated feasibility of explicitly linking wild animal conservation with NbS.
• Highlighted the multifaceted benefits of this integrated approach.
• Identified key challenges and considerations for scaling up.

Conclusions:

• Integrating wild animal conservation into NbS is a viable strategy with broad benefits.
• Addressing critical issues is essential for successful large-scale implementation.
• This coupled approach is vital for resilient social-ecological systems.