Download Draft agreement on climate change

DRAFT
Agreement of the participants of the European platform for biodiversity
research strategy
held under the Greek presidency of the EU in Lesvos, Greece
23rd – 26th May 2002
concerning
Biodiversity and Climate Change
“We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time.”
- Vince Lombardi
Whereas
1. Climate change manifests itself in changes in patterns and amounts of precipitation, changes
in wind patterns and in seasonal and diurnal air temperatures, and an increased frequency and
intensity of extreme climatic events. This leads to consequent changes in key elements for
life, including water availability, salinity and temperature, evapo-transpiration rates, and the
timing and intensity of frost.
2. There is a substantial scientific literature on the interactions of species and ecosystems with
climate change. Biodiversity has an impact on climate change and vice versa1.
3. There is potential for significant disruption of ecosystems under climate change.
4. The ecosystem approach provides a framework for adaptive management in the face of
climate change.
5. Efforts to conserve biodiversity and sustainable use of ecosystems may affect the rate and
magnitude of climate change.
6. Adaptation and mitigation activities for climate change could have both beneficial and
adverse impacts on biodiversity, and these impacts may vary from region to region.
7. Climate change may increase the capacity for certain species to become invasive or reduce
the ability of native ecosystems to resist invasion.
8. Habitats and species at the limit of their adaptation to the prevailing climate may disappear as
a result of climatic changes; threatened species and habitats are particularly vulnerable.
9. Species in fragmented habitats are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their
restricted options for dispersion to, migration towards, or propagation in, more favourable
climatic zones.
10. Protected areas designated or managed to conserve particular species or habitats may become
unsuited to this purpose as climate changes.
11. Ecotones, which typically exhibit high species and genetic diversity, may shift radically or
disappear altogether as a result of climate change.
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For example, vegetation cover influences and is influenced by local climate, and marine phytoplankton sequester
CO2, thus altering the atmospheric concentration of this important greenhouse gas.
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12. Alterations to marine salinity, water temperature, wave conditions, ocean circulation and
prevailing currents that occur as a consequence of climate change are likely to have a
particularly profound effect on aquatic biodiversity, but will also significantly influence
coastal and terrestrial biodiversity.
13. The high human population densities and intense land use that characterise many parts of
Europe will in many cases tend to exacerbate the effect of climate change on biodiversity.
14. The biodiversity of Mediterranean, Macaronesian, artic and alpine ecosystems is likely to be
more sensitive to climate change than that of most other European ecosystems.
15. The United Nations Framework Convention on climate Change (UNFCCC) recognises the
need to mitigate climate change through stabilisation of atmospheric greenhouse gas
concentrations within a time-frame sufficient to allow time ecosystems to adapt naturally.
16. There are opportunities for synergies, and a probable need for tradeoffs, between the
conservation and sustainable use objectives of the United Nations Convention on Biological
Diversity (UNCBD)2 and climate change adaptation and mitigation activities under the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 3.
17. The conservation and sustainable management of forests and other ecosystems can contribute
simultaneously to the UNCBD and the UNFCCC.
The participants of this meeting place high priority on research to:
1. Better understand the implications of climate change for biodiversity and improve our
understanding of the response of biodiversity to changes in climate, both at the species and at
the ecosystem level.
2. Develop, test and improve models to predict changes in biodiversity in response to climate
change.
3. Provide the scientific basis to further develop the ecosystem approach with a view to climate
change adaptation and mitigation.
4. Enhance understanding of the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem structure and
function, and dispersal and migration through fragmented landscapes.
5. Develop understanding and methods to conserve threatened ecosystems that offer benefits for
both climate stability and biodiversity conservation, including old-growth forests and
wetlands. In particular, develop forest sylvicutural practices and management schemes to
improve and conserve biodiversity in degraded forest.
6. Develop science-based plans to establish connected networks of terrestrial, freshwater and
marine multiple-use reserves designed to protect habitats and species from the deleterious
effects of projected changes in climate;
7. Develop research and specific manipulative experiments to understand the role of
biodiversity in determining forests primary production and carbon sequestration in contrast
with monospecific fast growing plantations.
8. Provide criteria and rationales to help to prioritise policy reforms that result in climate and
biodiversity benefits.
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UNCBD has requested SBSTTA to prepare scientific advice to facilitate the integration of biodiversity
considerations in the implementation of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol.
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The Conference of the Parties of both Conventions seek closer collaboration on the interaction of climate change
and biological diversity, including forest, coral reefs and the integration of biodiversity considerations in the
implementation of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol.
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9. Develop methods to identify synergies and encourage co-operation between efforts to halt
climate change and promote environmental stewardship.
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Background information
Not to be included in the agreement
a) The IPCC Second Assessment Report (http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/sarsyn.htm) concluded that
ecosystems vital to human development and well-being are vulnerable to climate change.
b) The IPCC Third Assessment Report (summary: http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/un/syreng/spm.pdf)
states that “Projected climate change will have beneficial and adverse effects on both
environmental and socio-economic systems, but the larger the changes and rate of change in
climate, the more the adverse effects predominate”.
c) The World Resources Institute released its report “Climate, Biodiversity, and Forests: Issues
and Opportunities Emerging from the Kyoto Protocol” at COP-4 of the UNFCCC in Buenos
Aires in 1998 (http://www.wri.org/ffi/climate/). It shows that biodiversity loss and climate
change are intricately linked, although they have generally been addressed independently.
d) The IPCC Technical Paper V "Climate Change and Biodiversity"
(http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/tpbiodiv.pdf) prepared to a request from the UNCBD issued in April
2002 outlines that climate change will have a significant impact on biodiversity.
e) An international conference was held at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK on
Tuesday 8 to Thursday 10 April 2003 (http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/biodiversityconf/). It
presented the findings of the latest scientific research into how the natural world is being
affected by climate change - and also how the natural world might respond in the future. It
provided a key forum for the world's biologists and conservationists engaged in climate
change work.
f) The CBD Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change prepared a
draft report on “Interlinkages between Biological Diversity and Climate Change and Advice
on the Integration of Biodiversity Considerations into the Implementation of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol”.
The draft is currently out for expert and government review. The expert group will meet in
Helsinki on May 13-16, 2003 to finalise the draft report. The report will be considered at
CBD SBSTTA-9 in November and UNFCCC COP-9 in December.
g) The Federal Environmental Agency of Germany has published in 2001 a report entitled:
“Requirements of climate protection with regard to the quality of ecosystems: Use of
synergies between the Framework Convention of Climate Change and the Convention on
Biological Diversity”, which is intended as input to the ongoing policy process under the
FCCC and the UNCBD. The report addresses a) functional linkages between climate and
biodiversity/ecosystems and b) synergies and conflicts between FCCC and CBD. The
Agency is currently working on criteria, indicators and tools to avoid negative impacts of
mitigation or adaptation projects on biodiversity. Information: Petra Mahrenholz
([email protected]).
h) The MONARCH project (“Modelling Natural Resource Responses to Climate Change”)
investigates the impacts of climate change on the nature conservation resources of Britain
and Ireland. It links established impact models to climatological classifications to provide a
framework for studying the responses of key habitats and species to climate change. Phase 1
of MONARCH was completed in spring 2001. It has provided broad-scale projections of the
responses of a range of species, habitats and geological processes to climate change in the
2020s and 2050s. A significant output is a series of maps relating changes in species’
distributions to climatic shifts. Some key policy and research messages have also emerged.
See full technical and summary reports, available on line at: http://www.ukcip.org.uk (under
sectoral studies). Despite this major advance in understanding, considerable uncertainties
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remain about the effects of climate change on species and habitats. Whilst a broad-scale
review of species’ responses was necessary, it does not help define impacts at an ecosystem
level. An understanding of ecosystem responses is essential when setting nature conservation
objectives for habitats and species in the context of climate change, and when reviewing the
implications for nature conservation policy. Phase 2 of MONARCH aims to further this
understanding at a finer spatial resolution in order to predict local-scale changes. It comprises
two research modules, the first of which is developing models to simulate changes in species’
distribution, species’ dispersal and ecosystem function and links these with predictions for
future land use change. A second research module will focus on the application of these
methodologies in a series of case study areas in Britain and Ireland. Module 1 began in
autumn 2001 and concludes in spring 2003, when Module 2 started. Contact: Mike Harley
([email protected]).
i) The MarClim (Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change) project is concerned about global
climate change and its possible effects on the marine environment. Britain and Ireland
possess extensive data sets for some marine species which, if analysed and made widely
accessible, would increase our understanding of the impacts of climate change on marine
biodiversity. This multi-partner project is focusing on a set of temperature-sensitive, readily
observed, intertidal climate indicator species for which long-term data sets and monitoring
sites are available. The work will demonstrate the changes that have occurred during the last
50 years, and the results will be used to develop and test hypotheses on changes now
occurring, and to forecast future changes. The project will also establish a network of sites to
provide subsequent annual updates to track how climate influences the marine biodiversity of
Britain and Ireland. This network, together with the baseline information provided by the
project, will be key tools to track the effects on marine biodiversity that will arise as climate
changes. Work on the project, which will run for four years, began in April 2001; the results,
particularly the forecasting elements, will be used to help inform policies concerning the
marine environment. Further information: http://www.mba.ac.uk/marclim.
j) ACCELERATES (Assessing Climate Change Effects on Land use and Ecosystems: from
Regional Analysis to The European Scale) is an EU-funded project (2001-03) which aims to
assess vulnerability of European agroecosystems to environmental change. This is being
achieved through an assessment of: (a) the rate, extent and dynamics of changes in
agricultural land use arising from climate, policy and socio-economic pressures; (b) the
impact of agricultural land use and climate change on biological resources; and (c) the
vulnerability of agroecosystems based on economic and environmental considerations.
Further information is available from http://www.geo.ucl.ac.be/accelerates.
k) ATEAM (Advanced Terrestrial Ecosystem Analysis and Modelling) is an EU-funded project
(2001-03); it is looking at the risks that global change poses to the interests of stakeholders
concerned with the successful functioning and well-being of ecosystems. By assessing the
vulnerability of the services provided by ecosystems to global change, ATEAM will support
stakeholders in their decision-making and will promote the sustainable use of these services.
Further information is available from http://www.pik.potsdam.de/ateam/.
l) “Climate Changes and Species: The Impact of Global Change on the Earth’s Biodiversity”.
This concept note summarises the outputs of a workshop hosted by IUCN and Zoological
Society of London in January 2003. For more information: Brett Orlando
([email protected]) or Sue Mainka ([email protected]).
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