Biodiversity and Climate Change Assessment

Overview

Biodiversity underlies nature's contributions to people (also known as ecosystem services), including food, water, health, hazard protection, and cultural values. Climate change is among the primary drivers of biodiversity loss, and well-managed biodiversity conservation can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Understanding the interplay between biodiversity and climate change is critical for the implementation of effective and lasting solutions to climate change and for maintaining biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people. The US Geological Survey (USGS), the nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science agency, was charged by the US Congress in the Fiscal Year 2022 budget with conducting an assessment that characterizes the state of understanding concerning linkages between biodiversity and climate change for the United States. Drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change impacts cross national boundaries, and accordingly the geographic scope of assessment will include neighboring nations, particularly Canada and Mexico.

The assessment process and report production will be led by USGS, in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad - CONABIO), and will be conducted by scientists, knowledge holders, practitioners, and policy experts from all three countries. Participation will be invited from governments at all levels, universities, nonprofit organizations, the private sector, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). The assessment will characterize the state of understanding concerning key linkages between biodiversity and climate change, identify critical knowledge gaps, and summarize implications for biodiversity and climate change policy. The assessment will build on the recently completed Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services and represents a continental contribution to upcoming IPBES (and other) knowledge products. The primary product will comprise of an assessment report, planned for release in early 2025, evaluating the relationships between biodiversity and climate in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and adjacent regions as appropriate, and identifying policy options to conserve biodiversity in the face of climate change.