Climate change is happening now, and the earliest evidence – melting ice caps, increased storms, floods, fires and drought, and dying coral reefs – can already be seen. Recent science confirms the anthropogenic (human-caused) origins of climate change. Extinction rates, caused by a variety of factors but heightened by climate change, are the highest in human history, threatening the ability of Earth’s ecosystems to provide food, clean air, fresh water, climate regulation, storm buffering and countless other benefits that sustain the planet’s well being. Every person on Earth is affected by climate change, particularly the poor, who depend most directly on nature for the basic needs of daily life.
To confront this threat, the world’s nations and citizens must work together to both mitigate climate change – drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming – and adapt to the significant warming that already is inevitable.
TAKE ACTION: Protect an acre of tropical forest for only $15.
Strengthening and protecting Earth’s ecosystems is an essential and immediate part of the climate change solution, both for mitigation and adaptation. And CI has expertise to bring to the fight. We work with partners around the world to protect and sustainably manage tropical landscapes, seascapes and crucial ecosystems essential to the resilience of our planet and the well-being of its people.
It will take a global community. Active collaboration between stakeholders from the public and private sectors – particularly representatives from indigenous groups and local communities – is paramount in order to identify the specific challenges of climate change, as well as the solutions to effectively address such a complex issue.
Mitigation
An immediate way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to halt the destruction of Earth’s remaining tropical forests and work to restore affected areas.
LEARN MORE: Find out about the importance of High Forest Cover, Low Deforestation (HFLD) areas to conservation.
Today, the burning and clearing tropical forests accounts for 17 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions – more than all the world’s cars, trucks, ships, planes and trains combined. This deforestation, driven mostly by demand in industrialized nations for timber, palm oil, beef and other commodities, as well as the need to fulfill basic human needs in developing countries, destroys an area the size of England every year. Scientists warn that failure to halt deforestation means global temperatures will rise to dangerous levels no matter what other steps are taken to combat climate change.
Adaptation
Intact ecosystems help us cope with – or adapt to – the changes caused by global warming. Mangrove forests protect coastal areas from increasingly powerful storms and rising seas. Coral reefs play a key role in sustaining critical marine resources such as fish populations. Forest systems are habitat for thousands of threatened species while providing essential resources and services for people.
Climate change will alter the productive capacity of these and other ecosystems, leading to shifts in food production, resource availability and even human migration. Working hard to minimize the threats we can control will make us more resilient to those we no longer can – such as the inevitable changes that are already ‘locked’ into the momentum of the global climate system.
IN DEPTH: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)
We must plan land use and manage marine assets in a way that predicts and buffers against changes by preserving key ecological services that improve natural resilience.
Refocusing the Conversation
The climate change debate now focuses on shifting the world away from fossil fuels as the dominant source of energy. That effort is vital, but will take decades to achieve. Similarly, efforts to help people and species adapt to climate change now focuses on developing infrastructure such as levies and flood-defense mechanisms.
These manmade, technological approaches overlook the value of nature as a cost-effective and immediate first response to climate change. Protecting healthy ecosystems and the multiple benefits they provide can be a "bridge" to the longer-term shift away from fossil fuels while at the same time generating new opportunities for economic development.
By delivering cutting-edge scientific research, a pragmatic economic approach, over 20 years of practical experience and an innovative vision to world leaders, policymakers and investors, CI will promote policies and approaches that will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from tropical deforestation, and help hundreds of millions of people adapt to the impact of climate change.
READ MORE: Galápagos and Climate Change