Under the leadership of the three Leibniz Natural History Research Museums – the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), the Leibniz Institute for Biodiversity Change Analysis (LIB) and the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung – renowned scientists published a manifesto to combat the climate and biodiversity crisis.
Thirty years after the signing of the first International Convention on Biological Diversity (May 22, 1992), biodiversity loss continues unabated. Together with climate change, this is the greatest and most pressing challenge facing the future of humanity. The World Nature Summit (CBD COP15) planned for the end of August offers the historic opportunity for an urgently needed reversal of the trend.
As part of its G7 presidency, Germany has a special responsibility to combat this “twin crisis” of climate change and species loss. Negative impacts on the other crisis must be avoided.
Nature-based solutions are of central importance here. They are cost-efficient and offer a variety of benefits for nature, climate and people, such as the expansion of nature reserves, the renaturation of peatlands, but also green roofs in cities. With nature-based solutions, carbon emissions can be quickly saved at lower cost and natural carbon reservoirs can be strengthened in order to achieve the Paris climate targets by 2030 after all.
Interview with Prof. Josef Settele in mdr Aktuell: “Protecting species helps the climate”
Prof. Johannes Kollmann (LandKlif) in BR24 on the Berlin Declaration
Thirty years after Rio: Berlin Declaration on the World Summit on Nature 2022
Press release of the Senckenberg Nature Research Society
Leibniz-Forschungsnetzwerk Biodiversität: 10 Must-Knows aus der Biodiversitätsforschung
