Europe's biodiversity
is already responding to climate change.
'Many species are already on the move, expanding
northwards as temperatures rise,' says Prof.
Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of
the EEA on the occasion of the celebration
of the International Day for Biological
Diversity and the theme of 'biodiversity
and climate change'.
Themes Biodiversity change
Many species are already on the move, expanding
northwards as temperatures rise
Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of
the EEA
'We can already see startling changes in
growing seasons. Many species are already
on the move, expanding northwards as temperatures
rise,' says Jacqueline McGlade, Executive
Director of the EEA.
The impact of climate change on biodiversity
varies extensively from region to region.
The most sensitive natural ecosystems in
Europe are found in mountain regions, coastal
zones (the Baltic wetlands, in particular),
the Arctic and in various parts of the Mediterranean.
Many species and ecosystems in these regions
are likely to have difficulty in adapting
to climate change.
'Europe's landscape is already experiencing
massive change at our hands as we build
on and develop our land resources at a rapid
rate. Between 11000 and 2000, more than
800 000 hectares, of Europe's land was built
on. That is an area three times the size
of Luxembourg. Combine this development
with the impacts of climate change and it’s
not difficult to imagine the pressure that
our future environment will be under,' Professor
McGlade said.
The EU has proposed to limit global warming
to no more than 2 °C above the pre-industrial
level, since there is strong scientific
evidence that a temperature rise beyond
this threshold would greatly increase the
damage to natural systems not to mention
human society. Substantial global greenhouse
gas emission reductions are needed to achieve
this target. However, even with a global
temperature increase limited to 2 °C
adaptation will still be required in many
affected sectors.
Climate change is very likely to alter
conditions of suitability for many species
in current conservation areas. This poses
a major challenge for conservation, because
current conservation policy is underpinned
by the idea of static species ranges.
The ability of countries to meet the requirements
of EU Directives and other international
conventions is likely to be compromised
by climate change, and a more dynamic strategy
for conservation is needed for sustaining
biodiversity (IPCC 2007). This has important
consequences for the successful implementation
of the Natura 2000 network which covers
over 18 % of the EU-25's terrestrial area.
Towards boosting nature's adaptation capacity,
the recent Commission's Biodiversity Communication
calls for the strengthening of the coherence,
connectivity and resilience of the EU's
network of protected areas. Specific measures
to help the most at-risk habitats and species
to adapt are also called for. Furthermore,
the Commission is planning to publish a
Green Paper on adaptation to climate change
in Europe covering all sectors that are
affected by climate change in June 2007.
Information and linksInternational Day
for Biological Diversity is an annual Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) event, and
is organised in conjunction with United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Information
about the event itself and this year’s theme
of climate change and biodiversity is available
on the CBD’s homepage.
The website of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) contains further
information about the Fourth Assessment
Report.
The 2006 EEA Report 'Progress towards halting
the loss of biodiversity by 2010' summarises
our knowledge about biodiversity in Europe
and explains the policy framework including
the Natura 2000 network of protected areas.
Policy Area 3 of the 2006 Communication
on Biodiversity addresses biodiversity and
climate change. Full information about the
Communication is available on DG Environment's
'Nature and Biodiversity' website.
Information on EU policies to address climate
change is available on DG Environment's
website.
International research projects within
the EU which cover biodiversity and climate
change include the following:
This research is facilitated and further
developed by networks of excellence such
as ALTER-Net (http://www.alter-net.info/default.asp
and http://www.biodiversityresearch.net/),
research coordination (e.g. CIRCLE) , and
meta-analysis (e.g. MACIS). A number of
important national activities are also ongoing.
Further information about EU-funded research
within the biodiversity theme is available
on the website of DG Research, and a catalogue
of 6th Framework Programme projects on climate
change is also available.