post-2020 biodiversity targets need to embrace climate change

The analysis warns that many post-2020 biodiversity targets risk being compromised by climate change, as some aspirational goals are unfeasible even under low-warming projections. It highlights that corals could decline by 70-90% even if warming is limited to 1.5ºC, and by 99% at 2ºC. The authors advocate for flexible, dynamic conservation approaches over static goals to better address habitat changes and leverage biodiversity for climate mitigation and adaptation.

• Existing international biodiversity targets have largely ignored the impacts of climate change, and conversely, some measures intended to mitigate climate change may directly damage biodiversity.
• Many proposed post-2020 biodiversity targets are at risk of failure due to climate change, regardless of whether other obstacles are removed, because some goals are not feasible even under low-end warming projections.
• Coral ecosystems illustrate the severity of climate risks: a limit of 1.5ºC global warming would still result in a 70-90% decline in corals, while 2ºC of warming would lead to a 99% decline.

APA

Basque Centre for Climate Change (2020). post-2020 biodiversity targets need to embrace climate change. https://www.bc3research.org/en/2020/12/post-2020-biodiversity-targets-need-to-embrace-climate-change/

Chicago

Basque Centre for Climate Change. post-2020 biodiversity targets need to embrace climate change. 2020. https://www.bc3research.org/en/2020/12/post-2020-biodiversity-targets-need-to-embrace-climate-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Basque Centre for Climate Change |title=post-2020 biodiversity targets need to embrace climate change |date=7 December 2020 |url=https://www.bc3research.org/en/2020/12/post-2020-biodiversity-targets-need-to-embrace-climate-change/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{basquecentreforclimatechange2020post2020, author = {{Basque Centre for Climate Change}}, title = {{post-2020 biodiversity targets need to embrace climate change}}, institution = {Basque Centre for Climate Change}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://www.bc3research.org/en/2020/12/post-2020-biodiversity-targets-need-to-embrace-climate-change/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }