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According to the literature, climate change is occurring now and has a direct impact on biodiversity, forcing species to adapt by migrating, changing phenological cycles, or developing new physiological traits (Lohmann et al. 2012).
Climate change, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005), is likely to become one of the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss by the end of the current century. Climate change is posing serious threats to and having dramatic effects on a diverse range of plants and animals in India (Telwala et al. 2013; Ray et al. 2014).
Maintaining and restoring healthy ecosystems is critical for adapting to and mitigating climate change through biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, and sustainable land management, all of which provide numerous environmental, economic, and social benefits. Human-caused accelerated climate change has now been added to the natural variability, threatening to exacerbate the loss of biodiversity already underway as a result of other human stressors. As a result, there is an urgent need to collect and disseminate information in order to contribute to the development of a strategic plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Climate Change Mitigation
Mitigating climate change entails lowering greenhouse gas emissions that are warming our planet. Mitigation strategies include retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient; utilising renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and small hydro; assisting cities in developing more sustainable modes of transportation such as the bus rapid transit, electric vehicles, and biofuels; and the promoting more sustainable land and the forest uses.
Traditional fuels such as coal and wood are used to meet the basic energy needs of approximately 1.4 billion people worldwide.
This is not only bad for the environment; it can also kill millions of people, especially women and children. Global energy demand is expected to increase by more than 50% by 2035, with developing countries growing even faster. All of these new customers require clean energy that is safe for both them and the environment. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on 1.5 Degrees of Warming emphasises the urgency of needed climate actions: global emissions must peak by 2030 and rapidly decline to net-zero by 2050 if we are to stay within the Paris Agreement’s safety limits.
What is Ecology?
Ernst Haeckel coined the term “ecology.” It is the study of the interactions between living organisms and their surroundings. Individuals, species, populations, communities, and ecosystems are the main components. The composition and distribution of resources such as sunlight, heat, water, nutrients, and so on determine the composition and distribution of these components.
What is the Environment?
The environment is the setting in which we live. It is made up of both physical and biological components. The environment determines the climate and weather, which are critical to all biological forms. Natural cycles and climatic conditions can be altered by changes in the environment. The more life forms that exist to create their habitat, the more resourceful the environment becomes.
Effect of climate change on biodiversity
Climate change is causing environmental changes that are disrupting natural habitats and species in ways that are still being discovered. The Rising temperatures appear to be also affecting biodiversity and while changing rainfall patterns, extreme weather events and ocean acidification are putting pressure on species already under threat from other human activities.
Climate change is expected to exacerbate the threat to biodiversity, but thriving ecosystems can also help mitigate the effects of climate change.
If current rates of warming continue, global temperatures could rise by more than 1.5°C (2.7°F) by 2030 compared to pre-industrial levels. Climate change has a significant impact on biodiversity by increasing the intensity and frequency of fires, storms, and droughts. In Australia, intense fires destroyed 97,000km2 of forest and surrounding habitats between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, which are now known to have been exacerbated by climate change. This adds to the already-existing threat to biodiversity posed by other human activities. The number of threatened species in the area is thought to have increased by 14% as a result of the fires.
Environment/Biodiversity protection
Protecting biodiversity is a difficult task because most human activities harm ecosystems by weakening them. Human activities, for example, cause pollution that harms living organisms. Many animals, insects, and plants lose their habitat as a result of deforestation.
Our agriculture prioritises certain crops over others, resulting in the extinction of certain ecosystems such as tropical forests and species such as orangutans. To protect biodiversity, we must change our economic model of consumption in order to reduce our impact on the natural environment. Such modifications could include, for example:
Reducing deforestation
reducing artificialization of natural environments and preserving natural areas to the greatest extent possible
Reduce pollution in the air (by limiting our use of transport and our energy consumption, by switching to renewable energies)
Combating global warming by enacting regulations governing activities that contribute to the greenhouse effect
Making changes to industrial agriculture and employing more agroecology methods
Conclusion
Climate change, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, is likely to become one of the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss by the end of the current century. Climate change is posing serious threats to and having dramatic effects on a diverse range of plants and animals in India (Telwala et al. Human-caused accelerated climate change has now been added to the natural variability, threatening to exacerbate the loss of biodiversity already underway as a result of other human stressors. As a result, there is an urgent need to collect and disseminate information in order to contribute to the development of a strategic plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation. All of these new customers require clean energy that is safe for both them and the environment. The environment determines the climate and weather, which are critical to all biological forms.
