The biodiversity crisis and adaptation to climate change: A case study from Australia's forests

If current trends continue, human activities will drastically alter most of the planet's remaining natural ecosystems and their composite biota within a few decades. Compounding the impacts on biodiversity from deleterious ma nagement practices is climate variability and change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently concluded that there is ample evid ence to suggest climate change is likely to result in significant impacts o n biological diversity. These impacts are likely to be exacerbated by the s econdary effects of climate change such as changes in the occurrence of wil dfire, insect outbreaks and similar disturbances. Current changes in climat e are very different from those of the past due to their rate and magnitude , the direct effects of increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations and becaus e highly modified landscapes and an array of threatening processes limit th e ability of terrestrial ecosystems and species to respond to changed condi tions. One of the primary human adaptation option for conserving biodiversi ty is considered to be changes in management. The complex and overarching n ature of climate change issues emphasises the need for greatly enhanced coo peration between scientists, policy makers, industry and the community to b etter understand key interaction's and identify options for adaptation. A k ey challenge is to identify opportunities that facilitate sustainable devel opment by making use of existing technologies and developing policies that enhance the resilience of climate-sensitive sectors. Measures to enhance th e resilience of biodiversity must be considered in all of these activities if many ecosystem services essential to humanity are to be sustained. New i nstitutional arrangements appear necessary at the regional and national lev el to ensure that policy initiatives and research directed at assessing and mitigating the vulnerability of biodiversity to climate change are complem entary and undertaken strategically and cost-effectively. Policy implementa tion at the national level to meet responsibilities arising from the UNFCCC (e.g., the Kyoto Protocol) and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity r equire greater coordination and integration between economic sectors, since many primary drivers of biodiversity loss and vulnerability are influenced at this level. A case study from the Australian continent is used to illus trate several key issues and discuss a basis for reform, including recommen dations for facilitating adaptation to climate variability and change.