The context
The anthropogenic pressure on our planet is growing. Besides habitat destruction and fragmentation, biological invasions, over-harvesting and pollution, climate change now adds to the list of major drivers of biodiversity loss.
Human activities have contributed to changes in the Earth's climate over the 20th century: land and ocean surface temperatures have warmed, the spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation have changed, sea level has risen and the frequency and intensity of El Nino events have increased.
These changes, particularly the increase in global temperature (about 0.6°C over the 20th century), already have perceptible impacts on biodiversity and notably on the geographical range, phenology, behaviour and genetic diversity of organisms.
The impact of climate change on biodiversity is emphasized by the fact that it combines with and exacerbates other threats associated with human activities. For example, habitat loss and fragmentation might limit the opportunities for species to shift range and find suitable climate spaces. On the other hand, changing climates might offer opportunities for invasive alien species to colonize new territories.
If nothing is done to help biodiversity adapt to future climate (current predictions estimate further increases in temperatures of 1.4°C to 5.8°C over the 21st century), its consequences on ecosystems and the services they provide might become serious. The intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) concluded in its last report that if global mean temperature increases exceed 1.5-2.5°C above pre-industrial levels, 20-30% of plant and animal species are likely to be at increasing high risk of extinction.
Interactions between biodiversity and climate change run both ways: biodiversity is threatened by human-induced climate change but biodiversity itself plays an important role in climate regulation and can help mitigate the impacts of climate change (such as flooding for example).
This stresses even more the need to preserve biodiversity in the current context of global change.
The Belgian Biodiversity Platform's initiatives
The Belgian Biodiversity Platform organized in 2007 a scientific conference and a public consultation on the theme: “Biodiversity and Climate Change”.
The public consultation aimed at evaluating the way climate change is perceived in Belgium in different activity sectors linked to biodiversity such as nature conservation, forestry, agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, development cooperation, health and tourism. Representatives from administrations, professional associations and non-governmental organizations were interviewed in each Regions of the country.
- Consultation results are available here
The aim of the conference was twofold:
- get an overview of current research carried out in Belgium on the interactions between biodiversity and climate change,
- draft recommendations on research priorities, based notably on the result of the public consultation, and present them to the policy makers
Amongst others, recommendations were put forward that encourage the adjustment of current natural resource management policies in the light of likely climate change impacts and the establishment of tools and mechanisms that promote exchange of knowledge among a wide range of stakeholders.
In this context, the Belgian Biodiversity Platform decided to launch a forum on the theme « Biodiversity and climate change ». The general aim of this forum is to gather scientists and relevant stakeholders in order to:
- make stakeholders and policy makers aware of the stakes of conserving biodiversity in the context of climate change,
- make scientists aware of the concerns and needs of stakeholders and policy makers,
- propose and evaluate scientifically sound, targeted actions aiming at mitigating the impact of climate change on biodiversity.
- To learn more about the ongoing and future projects of the forum go to the activities section
- To access relevant existing resources on this topic, go to the resources section
- To follow or take part to electronic discussions of the group, go to the forum section
