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Speakers during the APAN Webinar, Connecting the dots: climate change and biodiversity interlinkages in Asia-Pacific, from science to policy and practice, 22 September 2022, Zoom. Photo: UNEP-APAN

Through the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) webinar, “Connecting the dots: climate change and biodiversity interlinkages in Asia-Pacific, from science to policy and practice,” held on 22 September 2022 via Zoom, over two hundred fifty climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation practitioners strengthened their understanding of two planetary challenges that can no longer be considered in siloes.

Along with recent scientific evidence from IPBES and IPCC presented during the webinar, participants learned about the growing policy synergies among the three Rio Conventions – UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) – and other initiatives.  Attendees also gained insights into the variety of climate and biodiversity benefits offered by Nature-based solutions (NbS) and Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) including real examples of community-led EbA projects in China.

Moderated by UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre’s (WCMC) Head of Nature-Based Solutions, Dr. Valerie Kapos, the event gathered speakers from the University of Tokyo, Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Chinese Academy of Sciences and UNEP International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP).

Opening the session, Dr. Mathur Vinod, Former Chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), India, and UN-IPBES Bureau Member, said, “Biodiversity loss and climate change are interconnected in many ways. Climate change strongly affects biodiversity with negative consequences for human well-being and adverse impacts to the long-term stability of critical ecosystems.”

Scientific connections

Dr Shizuka Hashimoto, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Department of Ecosystem Studies, University of Tokyo, provided perspectives on major drivers of biodiversity decline in Asia-Pacific. “From agro-ecosystems to alpine and coastal ecosystems, climate change has been one of the major drivers of biodiversity decline across multiple ecosystem types in the Asia-Pacific region.” He also warned practitioners of some trade-offs: “Measures that solely focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation may have negative effects on biodiversity. However, most biodiversity conservation measures produce climate change co-benefits.”

He emphasized the need for better policy coordination to harmonize efforts in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss challenges.

Policy realm

Mr. Mathias Bertram, Advisor for biodiversity policy and Nature-based Solutions, Division G300 Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure, GIZ Germany, shared:  “there is a growing recognition of the importance of jointly addressing biodiversity and climate issues as seen from the various global discussions in the past years.” He added: “There is a need to make better use of existing opportunities such as the upcoming CBD and UNFCCC Conference of Parties to translate synergies into policies and implementation.“ He also highlighted existing international mechanisms as well as national ones for synergistic approaches.

EbA practice

At the practical level, Dr. Yiching Song, Farmer Seed Network (FSN) Founder, UNEP-IEMP Program Leader, and Senior Researcher, Chinese Academy of Sciences, shared success stories of EbA projects in China delivering on biodiversity and adaptation challenges through food security, culture, traditional and indigenous knowledge. “Grassroot communities play a critical role in climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation. They facilitate community-based biodiversity conservation and NbS for climate resilience and adaptation.” She highlighted the need to link community seed banks, gene banks, farmer seed systems and formal systems to address the interlinked societal challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and poverty.

In conclusion, she said, “It is only by linking local communities, NGOs, scientists and policy-makers that we will scale up community-based NbS and replicate these across ecosystems.”

Summarising the session, Dr Valerie Kapos, Head, Nature-based Solutions, UNEP-WCMC highlighted that biodiversity offers solutions for communities to adapt to the changing climate. She also highlighted the needs and opportunities for more cross-sectoral collaboration and transformation in linking scientific, policy, and practical aspects of biodiversity and climate change.

This webinar is part of the APAN 2022 technical webinar series. APAN has already delivered three webinars focused on locally-led adaptations, loss and damage and biodiversity and climate change interlinkages. APAN will host a webinar on the Global Goal on Adaptation in December 2022.

Access the webinar summary report, here.

Watch the webinar recording, here.

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About APAN

The Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) serves as a knowledge platform to equip adaptation practitioners in the region with the information, knowledge, and tools to design, implement and monitor climate change adaptation measures, foster access to technologies and finance, and capacity-building for integrating climate change adaptation into national development policies, strategies and plans.

With support from the Ministry of Environment of the Government of Japan, APAN was developed and launched by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 2009 under the Global Adaptation Network (GAN). APAN has established close partnerships with key organizations and has become an important adaptation knowledge mobilizer in Asia and the Pacific Region.