Animating the Carbon Cycle: Supercharging ecosystem carbon sinks to meet the 1.5°C climate target
Animals play a critical role in the global carbon cycle – elephants to grasshoppers, sharks to sea otters – all contribute to the maintenance and engineering of ecosystems in different ways in both terrestrial and marine domains. This report includes ten case studies and calls for increased research in the field.
Report link: Global Rewilding Alliance (2022)
Against the backdrop of biodiversity decline and rising global temperatures, there has never been a greater awareness of our need for nature and the wide range of benefits it provides. Practical rewilding initiatives have already demonstrated that by enhancing so-called nature-based solutions, recovering nature can - and should - play a game-changing role in fixing our climate, increasing biodiversity, and making the world a more liveable place for future generations.
Yet despite the clear link between the climate and biodiversity emergencies, the current paradigm for identifying and developing nature-based solutions remains one of reconciling trade-offs. It is still a commonly held assumption that dedicating landscape space to conserve and enhance biodiversity will conflict with the allocation of landscape space to capture and store carbon. In places where conservation initiatives could lead to the realisation of both benefits, it is widely assumed that carbon capture and storage and biodiversity conservation are functionally unrelated.
This assumption overlooks the critical role that biodiversity - particularly animal species - plays in controlling carbon uptake and storage in ecosystems. Indeed, scientific research is now showing that restoring wildlife populations to significant, near historic levels has the potential to supercharge climate mitigation efforts. This science is referred to here as 'Animating the Carbon Cycle' (ACC).
Lead author: Daniel Allen, Rewilding Europe
Contributing authors: Oswald Schmitz (Yale U), Magnus Sylven (GRA), Karl Wagner (GRA), Vance Martin (Wilderness Fdn. Global)