Nature can still heal itself, if we give it the urgent attention it needs

As scorching temperatures continue to break records across Europe, unprecedented wildfires break out in the Arctic, and polar sea ice cover drops—again—to an all-time low, never before has the climate crisis been so palpable, for so many people.

The increasing intensity and frequency of climate extremes impacts life on earth in many ways. Ocean and terrestrial ecosystems, which we all depend on, are equally affected, as is our planet’s capacity to sustain our growing needs.

A special report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change unveils how climate change, land management and global food security interact with each other, creating complex feedback loops.

By contributing to desertification and land degradation, the climate crisis is seriously threatening land ecosystems, biodiversity and global food security. Unsurprisingly, people living in degraded or dry areas, often already suffering from a lack of resources and water, will be most affected.

But just as climate extremes exacerbate land degradation processes across the globe, “Sustainable land management can contribute to reducing the negative impacts of multiple stressors, including climate change, on ecosystems and societies,” note the report authors. Several solutions can be used to provide some respite in the short, medium and long term.

Using nature’s healing power

Agroforestry, reforestation and afforestation programmes, particularly in tropical regions, can go a long way towards reducing land degradation and act as carbon sinks, thereby both mitigating and helping ecosystems cope with a changing climate. These nature-based solutions, which feature a holistic approach to land use by leveraging the existing resources nature has in stock, enable us to make use of the planet’s intrinsic restorative capacity.

Protecting vulnerable carbon sinks

Similarly, a warmer climate is associated with higher greenhouse gas emissions through permafrost thawing and deforestation, among others, so protecting and preserving peatlands and other vulnerable carbon sinks is crucial to slowing the release of greenhouse gases from these natural sources.

Harnessing the power of collective action

As governments take note and communities, international organizations and agribusiness act to implement society-wide changes to rapidly shift to sustainable food production and land use, we, as individuals also need to do our part.

“The level of risk posed by climate change depends both on the level of warming and on how population, consumption, production, technological development, and land management patterns evolve,” note the report authors.

There will be no silver bullet to solve this man-made crisis, but there is hope in that, by acting fast and at all levels of society, we will be able to scale back at least part of the unfolding disaster. Only we cannot afford to wait for the next report to remind us that the time to act is now.

Original source: UN Environment
Published on 08 August 2019