Climate Change

The scientific evidence is overwhelming and unequivocal, climate change is a stark reality. It is largely caused by human activities and it presents very serious global risks for people and biodiversity around the world and it demands an urgent global response. Human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels, are releasing rapidly increasing levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. This is causing the atmosphere to heat up. We do not have the luxury of standing by for years before the world gets round to making a serious attempt to cut its emissions. The next few years will be critical. There is a window between now and 2015 within which it may be possible to significantly slow down or lower the expected increases in global temperatures through reductions in global emissions.

Climate change threatens to undermine BirdLife's mission to conserve wild birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, by working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources. Climate change clearly poses new challenges to BirdLife’s main approaches to conserving species, Important Bird Areas and habitats. Biodiversity and climate change are closely interlinked: many habitats like forests and wetlands are important carbon sinks. Only diverse and healthy ecosystems can provide the essential services that people, animals and plants need to survive the expected environmental changes. Nature can protect us against extreme weather events, like floods, drought or erosion, if we do our part to conserve nature.

BirdLife has pulled together scientific information, policy analysis and practical experience that provides a comprehensive rationale for BirdLife to take action on climate change. The BirdLife Partnership has developed a shared position and programme of work to combat climate change. The position is, of necessity, complex and detailed. But its overall message is very simple: climate change is global in its causes and consequences and potentially disastrous for life on earth; we must act together and act now to mitigate against it and adapt to it.