Science - USA (2021-10-29)

SCIENCE science.org 29 OCTOBER 2021 • VOL 374 ISSUE 6567 511

EDITORIAL

C

limate change and loss of biological diversity are

global challenges, linked to each other and to oth-

er socioeconomic and environmental challenges.

These interlinkages have been discussed by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-

Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem

Services (IPBES), valuable references for multilateral

negotiations in the United Nations Framework Conven-

tion on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose Conference

of the Parties (COP) convenes in November, and the UN

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), whose COP

convened in October. In the past year, in recognition

of common challenges and opportunities, the IPCC and

IPBES formally collaborated for the

first time. Decision-making process-

es around these complex issues will

be more effective if they integrate

responses to climate change, bio-

diversity loss, and human develop-

ment gaps at various spatial scales:

global, regional, national, and local.

Since 1988, the IPCC has brought

together a segment of the inter-

national scientific community for

periodic assessments that provide

rigorous results, drawing on diverse

climate change science, which are

relevant for policy decision-making.

The IPBES has, since 2012, assessed

past and foreseeable trends in bio-

logical diversity. Through thematic

reports and integrated (regional and global) assessments,

IPBES has mobilized experts from all corners of the globe

on these issues, and has positioned itself in a relatively

short time as an institution with an authoritative voice

in this matter.

The IPCC assesses the impacts on biodiversity both

of climate change and of response strategies to climate

change: adaptation and mitigation. The IPBES assess-

ments consider climate change as one of the main di-

rect drivers of biodiversity loss. However, a qualitative

leap is required for integrating the knowledge incorpo-

rated in those results, through scientific collaboration.

Areas of potential cooperation between the scientific

communities linked to the IPCC and IPBES include the

development of socioeconomic and environmental sce-

narios with an integrative perspective—to make visible

and quantify, to the extent possible, interlinkages be-

tween climate change and biodiversity loss, and their

implications for sustainable development. These inter-

linkages are captured, at least partially, in the 17 UN

Sustainable Development Goals. A comprehensive con-

sideration of the Indigenous and local knowledge con-

tributions in responding to these global challenges, as

well as the development of research capacities on these

topics, especially in developing countries, are other is-

sues to be prioritized as part of the joint efforts.

The UNFCCC and CBD COP events constitute spaces

for encounters and confrontation, considering, on the

one side, common objectives and, on the other side, var-

ious priorities based on prevailing global and regional

socioeconomic asymmetries. There is an international

consensus that both cases are about global challenges,

where we are all part of the problem and must all be

part of the solution; but the con-

sensus is broken when it comes to

negotiating responsibilities and

commitments of each country to

guarantee lasting solutions.

Solutions to both problems re-

quire immediate actions, but with

a long-term perspective and a his-

torical approach. Actions must be

equitable and consider multiple

socioeconomic and environmental

interrelationships evaluated by sci-

ence. Application of the principle of

common but differentiated responsi-

bilities, incorporated into the nego-

tiations in the 1992 Rio Declaration

on Environment and Development,

is indispensable: “The developed

countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear

in the international pursuit of sustainable development

in view of the pressures their societies place on the

global environment and of the technologies and finan-

cial resources they command”.

This process of transformative changes would only be

viable to the extent that necessary financial resources

and technological support are mobilized to recipient

regions and countries. As a first step, in the context of

the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, developed coun-

tries should meet and exceed the goal of $100 billion

annually in financial support to developing countries,

with new pledges for the period 2021–2025. Appropri-

ate balance between climate finance for adaptation and

mitigation is crucial for implementing sustainable re-

sponses to climate change, with positive impacts in ad-

dressing biodiversity loss and other challenges.

–Ramón Pichs Madruga

Linking climate and biodiversity

Ramón Pichs

Madruga

is director of the

World Economy

Research Center

(CIEM), Havana,

Cuba. He is also

vice-chair of IPCC

Working Group III

and a member of

the IPBES Task Force

on scenarios and

models. rpichs@

ciem.cu

10.1126/science.abm
PHOTO: LIL MARIA PICHS-HERNANDEZ

“The UNFCCC

and CBD COP

events constitute

spaces for

encounters and

confrontation...”