Human-wildlife conflict: Climate change intensifies human-wildlife conflict through habitat loss and extreme climate events, forcing people and wildlife to share increasingly crowded spaces. These disasters cause catastrophic loss of life and habitat for people, pets and wildlife.Īustralia’s Black Summer bushfires (2019–20), for example, burned 186,000 square kilometers (72,000 square miles) and are estimated to have killed or displaced three billion koalas, kangaroos and other animals. Natural disasters: Already today we face a five-fold increase, compared to 50 years ago, in climate and weather-related natural disasters such as droughts, wildfires and hurricanes. Ecosystems may become uninhabitable for certain animals, forcing wildlife to migrate outside of their usual patterns in search of food and livable conditions, while causing other animals to die off.įor example, if rates of habitat loss and fragmentation due to human development and global warming continue-combined with deaths from poaching-we could lose Africa’s elephants in the next 40 years. Habitat loss: Rising temperatures affect vegetation, food sources, access to water and much more. Some of the biggest climate-driven threats for wildlife include: Changes in one area influence changes in other areas and animals will feel the impact. It’s impossible to predict exactly how long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns will affect our planet’s fragile, deeply entwined ecosystems. Based on current projections, global temperatures will rise by 2.7☌ (4.8☏) by the end of the century. The Earth is now about 1.1☌ (2☏) warmer than it was in the 1800s. Climate change threatens vital biodiversity The choices we make today have the power to reduce the suffering of people and animals in the future. Increases in temperature could trigger the collapse of fragile ecosystems and huge waves of extinction. The world’s wildlife and habitats will also face profound, sometimes catastrophic, change.
Humans are not the only species impacted by our planet’s climate crisis.
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