Warming may ‘threaten’ half of species in 33 key regions

Warming may ‘threaten’ half of species in 33 key regions

Context

The analysis commissioned by WWF and published in science journal Climatic Change

What was the focus of the report?

The report focused on 33 so-called “Priority Places” which host some of the world’s richest and most unusual terrestrial species, including iconic, endangered, or endemic plants and animals

• They include southern Chile, the eastern Himalayas, South Africa’s unique Fynbos ecoregion, Borneo, Sumatra, the Namibian desert, West Africa, southwest Australia, coastal east Africa, and southern Africa’s Miombo Woodlands, home to African wild dogs

Results

• Global warming could place 25 to 50% of species in the Amazon, Madagascar and other biodiverse areas at risk of localised extinction within decades
• The lower projection is based on a mercury rise of two degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial Revolution levels — the warming ceiling the world’s nations agreed on in 2015
• The highest is for out-of-control warming of 4.5 Celsius
• At warming of 4.5 Celsius, based on a “business-as-usual” scenario of no emissions cuts, the Amazon could risk the local extinction of 69% of its plant species
• The Miombo Woodlands risks losing 90% of its amphibians, 86% of birds, and 80% of mammals
• Limiting warming to 2 Celsius would enable many species to continue inhabiting the areas they currently occupy and if animals can move freely, not constrained by roads, fences, or human settlements, the proportion of species at risk at warming of 2 Celsius drops from 25 to 20%

Paris agreement might be too less too late

WWF in a statement has said that even with the emissions cuts pledged under the Paris Agreement, temperatures that were extreme in the past are set to be the new normal in all Priority Places

The report comes ahead of a major meeting of the IPBES inter-governmental panel in Medellin, Colombia, where scientists and governments will release five assessments of the state of biodiversity.

Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

• It is an independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development
• IPBES is placed under the auspices of four United Nations entities: UNEP, UNESCO, FAO and UNDP and administered by UNEP
• HQ: Bonn, Germany