"Climate change is a primary driver of biodiversity loss. And climate change depends on biodiversity as part of the solution. So clearly the two are linked and cannot be separated." This is part of an interview with Elizabeth Mrema, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity addressing this twin crisis.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms on our planet collectively. Some 8-10 million species of plants and animals are estimated in all (not including microbes which likely number in the tens of millions). And some one million of these species are now threatened with extinction in what evolutionary biologists refer to as the sixth mass extinction to face life on Earth. Although humans' use of the land -- having altered over 70% of all ice-free land -- remains the primary force driving biodiversity loss, climate change's effects on species and their habitats constitutes a growing threat.
This brief article from the United Nations describes how biodiversity also serves to buffer our climate against the effects of the accumulation of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Thus, solving either crisis requires solving both. And both solutions are in our hands.
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