The gradual impacts of global warming, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss are bringing the world closer to the edge of various tipping points, beyond which changes in earth systems will be sudden and irreversible. The disappearance of Chennai’s wetlands is an example of an early warning before local tipping points are reached, states this year’s Living Planet Index (LPI) by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
In 2015, the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, faced a flood that was called “the worst in a century”. Then, in 2019, water levels dropped so severely that many said “day zero” had arrived. Rapid urbanisation led to the degradation of around 85% of the city’s wetlands, and the “damage inflicted on the city was made worse by the destruction of species-rich wetlands and natural drainage systems, which used to shield people from the worst impacts of both droughts and floods,” the report says.
Between 1940 and 2014, India lost about one-third of its wetlands to urbanisation. There are other alarming trends too – a majority of bird species in India are on the decline, signalling rapid habitat loss, including from ecosystems like open savannah grasslands.
Local tipping points can have ripple effects regionally, and sometimes globally. The Living Planet Index report, a bi-annual publication, tracks the rate at which wildlife populations are changing over time as an indicator of ecosystem functioning. According to the report, habitat destruction and overexploitation of natural resources are the primary drivers of biodiversity loss in the Asia-Pacific region.
The population of Chinook salmon declined by 88% because of warming waters and obstruction of migratory routes from dams. Image by Zureks via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0].
The report’s findings were published ahead of the 16th global Conference of Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity meeting due to be held in Cali, Colombia October 17 onwards, where governments will contemplate how to halt biodiversity loss and aid conservation. “We need to increase transnational efforts, to have a different perspective and a different vision. We need a structural reform of the financial system so that countries have the financial mechanisms they need to respond to these crises,” Colombia’s environment minister and COP16’s President-Elect María Susana Muhamad González shares in a statement.
Biodiversity is declining everywhere
The statistics are concerning across every region of the world. Overall, wild vertebrate species have declined by 73% between 1970 and 2020, according to the LPI. The Latin America and Carribean region experienced the sharpest decline (95%) followed by Africa (76%) and Asia and the Pacific (60%). These declines are a result of “humanity’s disregard for the complex interrelationships within ecosystems and the delicate balance between the biosphere and the atmosphere,” the report says.
Even though Europe and Central Asia North America have the lowest declines (35% and 39%), it’s a reflection of the fact that “ large-scale impacts on nature were already apparent before 1970 in these regions: some populations have stabilized or increased thanks to conservation efforts and species reintroductions,” it says.
The declines are based on data collected from 35,000 population trends of 5,495 species, and reported across marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems are most vulnerable because of pressures on their ecosystems. The Chinook salmon, for example, declined by 88% because of warming waters and obstruction of migratory routes from dams and other major infrastructure projects.
In the Asia Pacific region, where species populations are declining by 1.8% annually, “the threat of invasive species and disease is frequently reported for populations,” the report says. Reptiles are most threatened by invasive species in the region, the report finds.
The population of Chinook salmon declined by 88% because of warming waters and obstruction of migratory routes from dams. Image by Zureks via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0].
Transforming food and finance systems
A major factor driving habitat destruction is agriculture and existing food systems. Our food systems are “inherently illogical,” the report states, because food production is coming at the cost of biodiversity without delivering adequately on nutrition. Food systems – particularly large-scale agriculture – has been identified as a threat to 24,000 of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction.
Programmes such as the Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) initiative are a “good example of the positive socio-economic impacts of nature-positive food production,” the report says. The initiative includes a host of practices such as avoiding the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and sowing indigenous crops and seeds. The initiative has resulted in the doubling of crop diversity and an increase in farmers’ net income by 49%.
“We have to increase the resilience of small farms, including how they can survive despite the changing climate and the current collapse of the climate system. The other [focus should be on] pricing. If you have good food, you will get better pricing, and better offtake means you will sell all,” Pavan Sukhdev, an economist and CEO of GIST Impact, an impact data and analytics provider that led the initiative, told Mongabay India last year.
The Living Planet Index report proposes four steps to improve food systems. These include optimising crop yields and livestock productivity in a sustainable way (i.e. without putting additional stress on freshwater resources, increasing greenhouse gas emissions or exacerbating nitrogen and phosphorus pollution), ensuring a healthy and nutritious diet, reducing food loss waste, and finance to support all of the above.
Only 4% of global climate finance goes towards food systems, even though they account for a third of emissions. Most subsidies towards agriculture and food systems are “market-distorting” because they incentivise more production without accounting for negative environmental impacts, according to a report by the Climate Policy Initiative.
“Governments need to integrate nature, climate and nutrition into other policy areas, including agriculture, land use, health, finance and trade. Private companies also have a critical role to play by encouraging sustainability and nature-positive practices along their value chains, including eliminating deforestation and conversion, and tackling food loss and waste,” the Living Planet report says.
Food production is coming at the cost of biodiversity without delivering adequately on nutrition, the LPI says. Image by Tewu via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 2.0].
Global Biodiversity Framework
In 2022, world leaders adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), an agreement with four broad goals and 23 targets aimed at conserving biological diversity and indigenous rights. Among them is the goal to effectively manage and conserve 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030. Under the Paris Agreement, countries have agreed to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.
“Right now, commitments, actions and outcomes across government, the private sector and civil society are insufficient, disjointed and siloed,” the report says. National governments, including India, are expected to submit their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans to align with the GBF.
This article originally appeared on Mongabay. Read the original article here.
