For a long time, climate change has felt like a distant problem; a cause of concern for our children’s children maybe, but not us. No longer, however, as our climate is changing before our eyes and we’re being forced to cope with a seemingly endless series of floods and droughts. But if you think it’s bad for us, then take a moment to think about how our wildlife is coping, because a major new report launched to today shows that it’s plants and animals that are on the frontline of our changing climate.
The ‘report card’ is compiled by Natural England and the Environment Agency in consultation with a wide range of experts to collate the latest scientific evidence, including ourselves at the RSPB. It provides a comprehensive overview of how nature is already being affected by climate change in the UK, and what is to come.
The picture at the moment is by no means uniformly negative; most of our butterflies do well out of warmer summers, and the UK has welcomed a range of new species spreading northwards over the Channel such as little egret and small red-eyed damselfly. But the negative impacts are already beginning to emerge. Spread of problem non-native species, pests and diseases is being aided by the changing climate, and we’re seeing coastal habitats such as saltmarsh being lost rapidly to sea-level rise. Individual species are also struggling with the changes – the spectacular black grouse and capercaillie show poor breeding success in response to high summer rainfall, for example.
That’s why we think conservation needs an adaptation strategy, and this strategy needs to be based on three pillars:
An enhanced protected area network of bigger, better sites that are well managed and ecologically connected across the landscape. These sites will continue to provide vital refuges that will help to accommodate the northwards advance of species in the face of climate change, but delivery at the scale needed will require new and innovative partnerships at the landscape scale, within the conservation sector and with others who can change how land is managed for the better.
Addressing existing problems to ensure populations are robust and able to withstand stress. In the uplands, for example, a combination of climate change and drainage is drying out the peat soil, reducing the number of craneflies that chicks of species like golden plover depend upon. With many others, we are working to restore these damaged ecosystems, putting the plovers and other species in the best position possible to successfully adapt.
A long-term perspective. Conservation has always been a long game, but climate change means that we now need to have our eyes on the future more than ever. If we don’t, then today’s conservation successes risk being swept away.
Even this, however, won’t work if climate change continues unbridled. Nature can only adapt so far and so fast. Reports this week that CO2 levels in the atmosphere are rapidly approaching 400 parts per million - up from 280 before the industrial revolution – are a sobering reminder that current efforts to avoid ‘dangerous’ levels of climate change are inadequate. One major review in the journal Nature concluded that under a mid-range climate warming scenario, 15-37% of species would be 'committed to extinction' by 2050. We’re currently on a trajectory that would result in a greater level of change.
This leads us to the inescapable conclusion that anyone who wants to see the unique and wonderful wildlife of our country protected must step up to the climate challenge. That means doing everything we can to reduce our emissions, and challenging Government to do the same.