Climate change and ecosystems: understanding the problem and the solution

The cyclone seasons seem endless with cyclones becoming more and more intense, such as Batsirai, Cheneso or Freddy whose impact has caused considerable damage in several coastal regions, affecting several hundred thousand people. Freddy, the latest one, has also broken records in terms of longevity. The natural environment in the Deep South is in a different form, marked by a prolonged drought due to increasingly scarce rainfall, which peaked in 2021, the most extreme in 40 years, leaving more than a million people severely food insecure.


How can we explain this phenomenon of increasing natural disasters? The latest report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) published on March 26, 2023, maintains the alert and emphasizes the alarming rise in the temperature of the surface of the globe which will reach 1.5 ° C by the early 2030s. This 6th assessment report will be the main scientific basis for the first global review of the Paris Agreement, which will take place at the COP28 in Dubai at the end of 2023. It is important to know that a global warming of more than 1.5°C would risk causing dramatic climate disruptions, some of which would be irreversible for centuries or even millennia, and which would be characterized, among other things, by extreme temperatures, intense precipitation and severe drought.


Faced with these disturbances, ecosystems play a vital role. Proposed in 1935 by the zoologist Arthur George Tansley, the term "ecosystem" refers to a set of dynamics where living organisms interact with each other and with their environment. These ecosystems are home to countless marine and terrestrial animal and plant species and provide ecosystem services essential to human survival, mainly livelihoods, protection against natural disasters (floods, soil erosion...), carbon storage and climate regulation. 


However, in the long term, these ecosystems, weakened and degraded by the pressure of human activities, will gradually lose their capacity to protect against climate change. Overexploitation, unsustainable management of resources and deforestation are all practices that hinder the proper functioning of ecosystems. Moreover, the industrialization era with its carbon emissions has greatly amplified the greenhouse effect and thus contributed to the accelerated rise in temperature.


In this diagram of climate change, we see a tendency for man, the main actor of climate change, to self-destruct both upstream and downstream. However, this phenomenon is not new, but the risks of aggravation are increasing, according to the IPCC report. The question could certainly be asked about the impacts of the numerous conservation initiatives in the face of climate change throughout the world.


Many challenges can hinder conservation actions. Poverty and the mass migration of "climate refugees", which adds pressure on the exploitation of natural resources, are among the major challenges. In addition, there is the increased corruption and trafficking linked to poverty and poor governance, as well as the lack of knowledge of the population on environmental issues. A trend towards the impoverishment of natural capital fueled by the lure of gain where the monetary value of ecosystems and biodiversity prevails over their intrinsic value. Various external factors that are evolving at a speed that often exceeds the speed at which solutions are implemented. In addition, the implementation of these actions requires close and interdependent coordination and cooperation between conservation organizations, governmental bodies and other stakeholders, which is also a challenge in itself. It should also be noted that ecosystems are an integral part of biodiversity and to restore a biodiversity as rich as that of Madagascar, lost over the last two millennia, would require 3 to 23 million years according to Steven M. Goodman, an American biologist and specialist on Madagascar.


The loss of ecosystems threatens humanity and nature, leaving them to suffer the effects of climate change. Healthy and productive ecosystems would allow people to enjoy the multiple environmental, economic and social benefits they provide. In conclusion, nature, especially through ecosystems, is the solution to mitigate the effects of climate change.