Climate Change and biodiversity - A communication strategy for voluntary nature conservation | Umweltbundesamt

Use of the latest IPCC (2007) scenarios and projections for climate change; cooperation with the North German climate office on regional climate projections; no independent climate scenarios

snow coverage, extreme events

Possible climate effects include changes in the chronological pattern of ecosystems, changes in the range, composition and diversity of species at a location and consequences for land use. The question examined is how much climate change nature can bear.

Climate change is part of the earth's history: In the last few million years, the earth's climate has changed repeatedly and nature has adapted. However, these previous changes are not comparable with current climate change as the average global temperature is rising exceptionally quickly and sharply. Animals, plants and biocoenoses that cannot adapt quickly enough are therefore in jeopardy. In addition, nature is faced with a huge burden and damage from intensive human utilisation; many ecosystems are therefore unstable and are unable to cope with further changes.

As the relationship between sensitivity, resilience and adaptation capacity, vulnerability is the theme of the regional workshops held as part of the project, along with questions on the need for adaptation measures and potential conflict with other usage interests.

For example, attention is drawn to the fact that climate change is an additional burden on top of the substantial initial burden on ecosystems. While many of the risks that climate change brings are inadequately understood, the rapid rate of change combined with the already severely limited capability of nature to develop could exceed the adaptability of many species. In a risk assessment, this means that the vulnerability of biodiversity and conservation depend largely on the protection objectives. Under these conditions, sticking with the status quo appears hopeless, while focussing on process protection in protection strategies for ecosystems could provide significantly better prospects of success.

Background: In times of climate change, intact habitats are particularly important, as functioning and well networked ecosystems make a significant contribution to combating climate change themselves. They support animal and plant species at risk of extinction and also fix considerable quantities of carbon dioxide.

Effective climate protection urgently needs intact ecosystems and land use that is compatible with nature. Intensive cultivation methods, drainage of moors and destruction of forests promote the harmful release of the carbon fixed in soils and plants and lead to a reduction in species diversity. Active conservation should therefore be a fixed component of any climate protection strategy.