In the last few days, three people have separately sent me this new climate paper Schmitz et al. (2023), just published in the journal Nature [1]. Like the study I referred to the other day on marine animals, the authors identify a suite of mechanisms by which animals function(Of an ecosystem). A subset of ecosystem processes and structures, where the ecosystem does something that provides an ecosystem service of value to people. More in ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More.
This latest paper is, in this case, only looking at the role of wildlife in tackling carbon uptake. Remember, carbon is the basis for all life on Earth. When carbon is absorbed into food chains, it becomes connected to our survival.
Food, clean water, stable climate though, are actually by-products of our existence. As I explain in my book ‘Wildlife in the Balance‘ (buy it here if you’d like to read more), we are part and parcel of ecosystems. Ecosystems are our reason for being and we couldn’t exist, if they weren’t stable. They nourish us and we build them in equal measure, in order to create a habitable system, alongside all other animals.
Schmitz et al. therefore rightly argue that carbon uptake is far greater when animals are factored into habitat restoration. They say that carbon storage increases 4-5 times when animals are factored in, compared to 3.5-4 times for just trees.
But of course it’s more than that. The difference between those two figures is also the difference between a world that is habitable and one that is not. The imperative to save and restore wildlife is simply existential. This lends even greater support to the idea that wildlife is key to addressing almost all our environmental problems today, including climate change.
Trees aren’t ecosystems without wildlife. Ecosystems, in as much as they provide life-support, couldn’t even exist without wildlife. Stable climate is in actual fact the end-point of having water and food security – a point still largely overlooked in the scientific narrative.
Animals are humanity’s best hope
Nonetheless, it’s great to start hearing the importance of wildlife becoming a more mainstream idea among scientists. This critical understanding is still, as the authors point out, missing from global policy.
So, they are outstandingly correct when they say a change in mindset is needed – this change in values is the very first thing that has to happen before we can move to creating real and lasting environmental outcomes for humanity.
Currently we see animals as ‘the icing on the cake’, which as the authors point out, leads to ‘the separate allocation of landscape and seascape space for animal conservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More and natural climate solutions because it sees them as competing objectives.’ At no level are we in competition with animals.
As in the subtitle of my book, ‘animals are humanity’s best hope.’ We must surround ourselves with a rich diversity of abundant wildlife if we are to have a future. Even a few of the greatest examples could save most of our planet’s ecosystems.
Read the paper here
Reference
- Schmitz, Oswald & Sylvén, Magnus & Atwood, Trisha & Bakker, Elisabeth & Berzaghi, Fabio & Brodie, Jedediah & Cromsigt, Joris & Davies, Andrew & Leroux, Shawn & Schepers, Frans & Smith, Felisa & Stark, Sari & Svenning, Jens-Christian & Tilker, Andrew & Ylänne, Henni. (2023). Trophic rewilding can expand natural climate solutions. Nature Climate Change. 10.1038/s41558-023-01631-6.
