Institute of Biodiversity Conservation

Nations, communities and families in Africa need to safeguard their homes and livelihoods against the unpredictable effects of climate change, according to a discussion paper written by Imperial College London’s Professor Sir Gordon Conway, published on 28 October 2009.

The paper describes how predicting climate change’s impact on specific countries, regions or towns in Africa is extremely difficult. Africa’s climate is driven by three very complex factors – the cycle of hot air and rain in the tropics, the monsoons and the El-Niño/ La Niña phenomena in the Pacific ocean. This makes it hard to forecast what will happen, when and where.

Climate change could cause more frequent and severe floods, droughts and other extreme weather events; decreased access to drinking water; damage to agricultural land and crops; and the spread of diseases like malaria into previously unaffected areas – all of which could have serious consequences for the poorest members of society.

Maintaining and restoring biodiversity in forests promotes their resilience to human-induced pressures and is therefore an essential “insurance policy” to safeguard against climate-change impacts, according to a study released yesterday by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Because primary forests are generally more resilient than modified natural forests or plantations, it is crucial that policies and measures that promote their protection yield both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation benefits, in addition to a full array of ecosystem services. Those are among the findings of the CBD Technical Series No. 43 on Forest Resilience, Biodiversity and Climate Change, launched on the margins of the XIII° World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study, a synthesis of the relationship between biodiversity, resilience and stability in forest ecosystems, provides compelling rationale for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for any forest-based climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Montreal, 16 October 2009- The Convention on Biological Diversity is a major legal instrument in support to achieving the objective of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Biodiversity provides the ecosystem based goods and services essential for the eradication of poverty and is integral to key development sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism, which more than 1.3 billion poor people depend on for their livelihoods.