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Info Service on Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge (Aug25/01) Climate and biodiversity polycrisis accelerated by policy failures A report by Friends of the Earth International, “Climate and Biodiversity in Freefall. How Policy Failures Accelerate the Polycrisis”, offers a detailed analysis of the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. It highlights how climate change disrupts ecosystems and leads to species decline, with alarming extinction rates and cascading effects such as the loss of crucial ecosystem functions like pollination, water purification, and carbon storage. On the other hand, the report also explores how biodiversity loss exacerbates climate change and the risk of reaching critical thresholds, for example the collapse of the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs and their ability to store carbon. A substantial section critiques prevailing climate policies that often cause more harm than good and that constitute false solutions. Amont these are tree planting and monoculture tree plantations, geoengineering, bioenergy schemes such as Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), and market-driven mechanisms like carbon offsetting and biodiversity offsetting. The report also examines the inadequacy of global frameworks like the UNFCCC and CBD in addressing the nexus of climate and biodiversity. It showcases how initiatives like REDD+ and Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) have failed to deliver biodiversity and climate outcomes due to a heavy corporate co-optation and lack of ecological integrity. In conclusion, Friends of the Earth International advocates for a systemic and just transformation that moves away from quick, techno-fixes and market-based mechanisms. It promotes real solutions grounded in ecosystem integrity, social justice, and respect for Indigenous rights. These include agroecology, equitable energy transitions, low-impact technologies and democratic energy control and governance structures. The report calls for immediate policy shifts that recognize the inseparability of the climate and biodiversity crises and stresses that only a holistic, justice-centered approach can prevent planetary collapse. With
best wishes, ————————————————————————————————- Climate
and Biodiversity in Freefall. How Policy Failures Accelerate the Polycrisis Conclusions from the report: The vicious cycle between climate change and biodiversity loss is harmful and dangerous. Climate change negatively impacts biodiversity in multiple ways. For example, ecosystems become unbalanced as different species respond and adapt to climate change in different ways and at different paces. Pests become more prevalent, destroying entire ecosystems, while ocean acidification threatens coral reefs and the many species that depend on them. At the same time, biodiversity loss further destabilises the climate. Since life on earth contains significant amounts of carbon, biodiversity loss also means the loss of important carbon reservoirs. Biodiversity loss will further reduce carbon storage in ecosystems, and we are fast approaching tipping points like the Amazon dieback where forests may turn from carbon sinks into carbon sources. Many damaging activities – such as industrial agriculture, mining, energy production, infrastructure development, pollution, overproduction and waste creation – only strengthen this negative feedback loop. To break this cycle, we must address the impacts of these sectors through concerted local, national and multilateral efforts. First and foremost, to stop the climate emergency, we must stop burning fossil fuels. But we must not do so blindly. We need renewable energy in the hands of local communities, not corporations. And we must ensure that the mining and production of energy, including wind and solar, does not damage the environment and the rights of peoples. Some of the worst impacts on biodiversity are caused by climate change policies themselves. This publication examines several of these policies that not only harm biodiversity but, in many cases, fail to adequately address the climate problem they claim to solve. One prominent example is the widespread proposals to plant millions of trees, often implemented as monoculture tree plantations. These plantations are extremely harmful to biodiversity. They are essentially ‘green deserts’, often made up of a single non-native species, and thus require extensive pesticide use, provide no habitat for other species, and are highly prone to fire. Other so-called ‘green energy’ initiatives also pose significant threats to biodiversity. Bioenergy, for instance, relies on monoculture plantations and the use of pesticides, and its production destroys native forests. BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage) is particularly harmful to both climate and biodiversity. Similarly, nuclear energy and mega hydropower dams have severe negative impacts on biodiversity and come with high risks, especially in the context of climate change. One of the most dangerous false solutions is the practice of carbon and biodiversity offsetting. Offsetting schemes have numerous negative consequences on their own, but their lack of consistency is particularly alarming. For example, climate offset commitments made by countries under the UNFCCC require hundreds of millions of hectares of restoration and tree plantations by 2030. This does not align at all with the ‘nature positive’ proposals put forward by the CBD, which allow continued biodiversity destruction as long as it is offset. The CBD’s current projection is that slightly more land will be offset than destroyed by 2030, which is nowhere near the amount of land required for climate commitments. These offsetting proposals are closely related to ‘nature-based solutions’ (NBS), which are disguised as rewilding. NBS projects are primarily focused on compensating for climate emissions, and often serve as greenwashing tools for heavily polluting corporations, allowing them to continue their harmful practices under the guise of environmental responsibility. Geoengineering, which includes technologies such as ocean fertilisation, solar radiation management and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), is yet another false solution with considerable risks for biodiversity and the climate. Its impacts can be far reaching and detrimental to both. Additionally, these false climate and biodiversity solutions often have serious implications for human rights, especially for IPLCs and women, who are disproportionately affected by these policies and the least responsible for causing the crises. Furthermore, they allow business to continue as usual for the most destructive corporations. The solutions to these crises will not be found in the same market-based practices that caused them: the pursuit of endless economic growth, massive corporate subsidies, overconsumption, and drastic socioeconomic inequalities across and within regions. The world urgently needs measures to address the underlying causes of both climate change and biodiversity loss. Biodiversity requires special protection against the worsening climate crisis and should not be seen as a tool to solve climate problems – especially not when this results in increased carbon emissions. We call for a thorough review of all climate policies by the CBD to assess their impacts on biodiversity, and for the prohibition of harmful policies. The UNFCCC must be required to coordinate with the CBD and IPBES when developing climate policies. All policies should ensure respect for human rights and the collective rights of IPLCs. We cannot allow false solutions like ‘nature-based solutions’ to greenwash harmful activities in the name of biodiversity, and we call for a renewed moratorium on geoengineering. Finally, a just energy transition that allows for the wellbeing of all people, in a fair and equitable way, is urgent in addressing the compounded crises of climate and biodiversity.
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