Climate crisis and nature crisis: what’s the link?

What is the climate crisis?

The climate crisis refers to significant changes in global and regional climate patterns, primarily due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. This leads to a rise in global temperature, extreme weather events, and changes in weather patterns, affecting ecosystems and human societies.

What is the nature crisis?

The nature crisis, also known as the biodiversity crisis, involves the rapid decline of Earth's natural world. This includes the loss of species, degradation of ecosystems, and a reduction in genetic diversity – the total number of genetic characteristics in the make up of a species. Human activities, such as deforestation, pollution, and overfishing, are major drivers of this crisis.

How are the climate crisis and nature crisis connected?

1. They have a lot of the same drivers: Human activities that contribute to climate change, such as deforestation and fossil fuel burning, also drive biodiversity loss and disrupt natural processes, making ecosystems less capable of providing expected goods and services. Conversely, the degradation of natural ecosystems means that they can no longer store carbon effectively, leading to higher carbon emissions in the atmosphere and exacerbating climate change.
2. They affect each other: The relationship between climate change and biodiversity loss creates feedback loops. For example, forest degradation reduces biodiversity, disrupts the water cycle, and contributes to climate change. Trees are crucial for the water cycle as they absorb water from the ground and release it into the atmosphere. Without them, the water cycle is disrupted, causing droughts and floods. Deforestation also releases carbon dioxide, contributes to climate change, and leads to soil erosion, desertification, and other land degradation.

Why is biodiversity important in addressing the climate crisis?

Biodiversity plays a crucial role in mitigating climate change. Healthy ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and oceans, act as carbon sinks, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In addition, diverse ecosystems are more resilient to climate impacts, and better equipped to provide essential services like water filtration, soil stabilisation, and crop pollination.

What is ClientEarth doing about the nature crisis?

We work every day to use the power of the law to protect our environment. We look to always fight for sustainable solutions that protect both our climate, biodiversity and people.  

We hold governments and corporations accountable for the harm they cause to the environment. And we aim to set precedents that drive systemic change, so each action has lasting impact.

1. We successfully challenged major polluters all over the world, such as Europe’s biggest coal plant which is now on its way to closing down for good.
2. We safeguarded Europe’s oldest forest by challenging the Polish government in court and supporting the international legal battle for its preservation at the EU Court of Justice.
3. We forced Italian authorities to protect the iconic Lake Vico when intensive farming pollution was killing the wildlife and negatively impacting the water.
4. We’ve supported Indigenous Peoples who are often on the frontlines of climate change, advocating for their custody of their own land and ancestral homes.
5. We went to the EU’s top court to end overfishing. EU leaders must respect the objectives they set for themselves and be held accountable when they breach the law and allow overfishing to persist.
6. Contributed to the major international treaties, such as the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, to drive widespread, enforceable change.