Human responses to climate change will seriously impact biodiversity conservation: It’s time we star

Watson, J.E.M. (2014). Human responses to climate change will seriously impact biodiversity conservation: It’s time we start planning for them. Conservation Letters, 7: 1-2.

The consequences for biodiversity of human-driven cli-

mate change cannot be ignored. The rate at which the

earth is warming is accelerating, and it is likely to take

centuries for the climate system to sync back to a natural

climate cycle, regardless of the mitigation policies imple-

mented. The quantity of greenhouse gases in our atmo-

sphere is such that climate change can now no longer

be considered a ‘future threat’. Across the planet we

are already witnessing, among other things, change in

species’ phenology, distributions and abundance, mass

coral bleaching events, changes in fire frequency, and the

loss of ecosystems due to rapid de-glaciation and sea-level

rise.

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