Separated at Birth? Addressing the Twin Crises of Biodiversity and Climate Change

Climate change is a growing threat to biodiversity, particularly in biodiversity-rich places such as tropical forests and coral reefs. At the same time, tropical deforestation is a major source of carbon emissions. Climate change mitigation measures may have positive impacts on deforestation, usually by design, or negative impacts, such as the destruction of tropical forests as an indirect result of American corn ethanol production. More generally, biodiversity and climate change both raise issues about the legality and effectiveness of bottom-up actions in the absence of global agreement. The typical approach to reducing undesirable activities such as deforestation or overfishing is to regulate the actors who produce them (the "suppliers" of these destructive activities). But another approach is to reduce the demand that drives these activities. These methods can be considered demand side because they attempt to reduce the demand for deforestation or overfishing, rather than regulating the farmers, developers, and fishers who produce these activities. Climate change and biodiversity threats both have links to the global food system. Conversion of land to agricultural use is a major threat to wild lands that store large amounts of carbon and harbor immense biodiversity. Increased crop yields, dietary changes, and population control can reduce these pressures, benefitting both biodiversity and the climate. The ocean's fish are also heavily over-utilized, and sustainable aquaculture can reduce pressures on wild fish stocks.