How Climate Change Causes Biodiversity Loss and What We Can Do About It

As the climate has heated over the last century, species extinction has rapidly accelerated. However, protecting biodiversity can help us mitigate and adapt to climate change.

From increased forest fires to rising sea levels, flora, fauna and fungi are all under threat from the effects of human-induced climate change. However, just as the changing climate is causing biodiversity loss, so protecting biodiversity can help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. For example, keeping carbon locked up in peat bogs and seagrasses will slow global heating, and maintaining healthy ecosystems will make them more resilient to climate change.

On the panel are:
Angeline Chen is the Co-Founder of Global Coralition. She holds a Masters degree in International Relations and Affairs from the University of California San Diego.

Tilly Collins is a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London. She publishes regularly on aspects of Urban Ecology, Entomology and Sustainability.

Nicola Davies is an English zoologist and writer. She was one of the original presenters of the BBC children's wildlife programme The Really Wild Show. More recently, she has made her name as a children's author.

The event was be introduced by Zitouni Ould-Dada. Zitouni is currently Deputy Director in the Climate and Environment Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome.

This talk was recorded on 20 July 2021.

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[ishanr]

Big on fluff and short on substance- I myself prefer hard numbers with proper citation.

Whilst I think that climate change is important, this talk seemed a bit patronising "you adults can't calculate averages and tell climate from weather so I will read you a picture book". I'm pretty sure RI viewers aren't a great target audience for such a talk. The people that do need this level of information "there are lots of types of animals, plants and microbes" are not the type who choose to watch RI channel.

[malcolmtent]

In ten years from now…..”we only have ten years to fix the planet”. Twenty years ago…..”we only have 15 years to fix the planet.”

[conradmyers]

Nikola is SO right! Emotional silver bullets, delivering the actual facts in ways that everyone can get! Much love!

[fefifofob]

You keep using the word 'facts.' I don't think you know what that word means.

[wdujsub]

The third speaker was kinda annoying but except that pretty good talk.

[kevinmorgan]

If climate change causes biodiversity loss, (which of course it does), what does it say about climate change and evolution? Isn't climate change just a part of natural cycles of ice freeze and ice melt? How can we hope to stop nature and the natural cycles? When we hardly make a dent in co2 levels, how can we think anything we can do will stop the ice melting and refreezing by methods we are using? The endeavour is futile without stepping up our game plan. If anything, our cooling by force serves to disrupt the balance of the natural cycles that could backfire and increase the pace of the ice age as a result of removing too much co2 in the atmosphere. If co2 is an incubator, and levels were much higher in the past, odds are the substances that create co2 will be released, and co2 will be what the planet uses to warm back up to remelt the ice, from which the carbon will perhaps come from the surface life frozen alive will come from organic life, humans in particular, bonding our carbon with the oxygen in the ice, eventually incubated by the methane released by the body as we decay, working it's way up as it melts the ice into pockets, eventually finding it's way into the atmosphere, so, what is evolution if not the product of natural cycles of mass extinction and rebirth of biodiversity and all life that will be rejuvenated once the ice melts, revealing a cleansed surface and forced evolutions, or rather, adaptations from mutations as life adapts to the environment as life finds a way. To add salt to wound, the magnetic fields would be in a state of flux, weakening the protective layers that will allow meteors and asteroids an easier time to pass through, and perhaps even attract them as the field polarity changes, which can potentially alter the trajectory of them, which may result in a slingshot around the sun, disrupted by earth's new moons gravitation that could direct the asteroids, meteors and comets straight towards us on their way back from their slingshot around the sun, potentially devastating the earth and erupting the volcanoes that will release copious amounts of co2. Hypothetically there are ways to stop all of it, but what that would mean in the larger scheme of things for the solar system and earth's trajectory is another question. I think the largest contributor would be our new moon, which we can do something about by pushing it away, out of our orbit, but at the same time If we remove it without other major efforts to stop the ice age, essentially inhibiting the natural cycle, the rewarming process if the freezing is not stopped, would take much longer. We really would be gambling everything on getting it right. I think the best thing we could do to mitigate climate change would be to master our methods of converting hydrogen to maximise our odds of survival and perhaps build a starship to serve as a life raft, a noahs arc... If we are indeed entering an ice age, money is irrelevant and no longer serves us as a race and is a potential obstruction to our survival. Our efforts and resources should be pooled in order to focus on the greater threat to our existence... It may serve us to use technologies such as haarp to capture co2 and direct it in areas of the protective layers as neccesary to help mitigate the climate by acting as a barrier or a patch up of them, theoretically regulating things by plugging the entry points of cosmic winds etc. I suspect that ultimately the earth's disposition will need to be realigned in order to balance out/reset the tilt to an upright position, which could potentially usher in a constant season of spring. All of which can be found in prophecies and is a story well told and littered throughout the worlds history. Everything from Ragnarok, a time the moon arrived, the sinking of continents like Atlantis, and the rise of them we can expect to see, the people emerging from caves like the emergence of life out of africa, the end of time mayan doomsday story, noahs ark and many others that also explain gigantic life from the last time of prolonged spring and many other documented accounts dismissed as myths and nothing more.

[UltramarineDad]

Only 1 solution is at hand, the billionaires have to step up or build more castles and mansions, that can work too

[neelroy]

Poor Suhana! I suspect everyone from prime minister to her editor and everyone in between must have told her. This is the agenda. All you can add is you favourite phrase "sort of".
We are failing with all those points. At least 70% of people arent aware what the heck climate change or global warming is. I have asked people in at least two states. Those who do either do not or cannot care. We are going in China way - more prosperity, more consumption, more emissions.
Only thing that is working for us and will continue to for some time to come is average Indian consumption is 1\16th of average developed country citizen.
I would have liked her to be little bit more honest.

[sjain]

Everything possible should be done to save the species suffering from climate change and loss of habitat

[robertwilson]

I am not saying humans have not caused some eviromental problems. Our population went from 1 billion in 1800 to almost 8 billion now. Of course that will change alot of things. But we as humans are incapable of controlling our population and people who invent things from looking ahead to see what the long term affects will be. If they even care, it's all about money and greed. We all only think about today right now! The human race is only capable of seeing a few years ahead if that. Plus we keep sending food and building in places where that human population should not be or the population should not be that high.

A guy told me once we are the most intelligent being on this planet. I said he was wrong. WE ARE THE MOST CLEVER. We are not that intelligent. We can't even manage our population, food and water resouces properly. We just figure ways around (Mother Nature) a problem that concerns us right now, not thinking pros and cons for the distant future. Thats because we haven't evolved enough out of prehistoic past. If you read about human behavior we are still using our basic animal instincts to survive on a dailhy basis that we have been using for the last 1 billion years or so. We haven't changed that much since then. We just have learned to make and use tools without a proper teacher.!!

As the world's heat rate rises a little faster then it would natually be. The planet will still be on course to heat up past our living capacity in a few hundred thousand years. We just happen to be living in a relative calm intemission between the ups and downs of natural climate. We and the other life forms on Earth will either adapt or die !! Like life has been doing since the dawn of time.

[neendevi]

When will Ri start doing talks at the stage again?

[yanikkunitsin]

Video title: "Age of Extinction"
Permian-Triassic extinction: "Am I joke to you?"

/when 96% of all species went... puff

[audience]

Protecting biodiversity should be prioritised more as it is the main problem. Humans will adapt to climate change much better than most life.

[daniellassander]

Why bother about it, its not like 99% of all life has already died out several times already, its almost as if life adapts.

[toni]

What a shame that girl talking about corals couldn't keep her hands away from her microphone.

[Semper_Iratus]

Like wooly elephants and dire wolves and saber tooth cats.

[elinope]

Microorganisms need nickel to create more methane in low oxygen environments (underwater, underground).

[musichombre]

Coral Reef off Florida's coast are s omething American's can relate to first hand loss of livelihood is more threatening in other areas

[georgesos]

Mammals, as in humans.
40% of us will run out of food (under the 3C scenario).
Keep doing what you do, society...

[hampsonmealey]

Is biodiversity an important issue given all other issues?