Last modified on July 20th, 2020 at 5:04 am

Here’s How Climate Security And Endangered Species Are Related

Climate security is having a huge impact on the planet’s endangered species. Here’s how these endangered species might be affected by climate change.

The world is seeing a change in climate at a dizzying rate. The world’s temperature is rising, seas are rising, and the world’s wildlife is threatened. It’s not a great outlook in any way. 

Climate change even has a large effect on worldwide security. The term climate security refers to all the ways that climate change may lead to worldwide issues such as health crises, food shortages, and even the loss of civilization. 

These are serious issues, but there are committed organizations working to address the issues.  Keep reading to learn more about climate security, climate change, and the way it affects animals.

Saving Animal Species

Since humans and animals share our limited space, the impact we’ve had on endangered species has been huge. The world is currently undergoing a major extinction event, with a huge number of species at risk.

Two of the major reasons for this are habitat loss and climate change. These, of course, are connected. Habitat loss occurs when the environment an animal lives in is destroyed. This could be by human development or a change in the climate.

In turn, habitat loss leads to climate change since it often means that trees are cut down. Fewer trees mean more carbon dioxide in the air, which leads to warmer temperatures.  Warmer temperatures cause further habitat loss and more animals to be endangered or even go extinct. 

It actually shouldn’t be a surprise that all of these events affect each other. We all share one planet, and the actions we take have shared consequences. 

One of the best ways to prevent animals from going extinct is to address climate change. Right now, we are on track to lose the habitat for almost half of all insects and about 25 percent of invertebrates. This can be reduced significantly with a drop of even one degree of global tempatures. 

Climate Security 

Why is it important to save animal species? Besides just saving the animals we think are cute, animals are crucial to the well-being of people. 

Without insects to pollinate crops and plants, we would not have enough food to feed people. Other animals above insects on the food chain rely on them as a source of food, too. Once the food chain is broken, it affects people very quickly.

We also get lots of our life-saving medicine from plants and animals. A healthy eco-system leads to better water, air, and food for people.

Climate change and the loss of animals and habitat can lead to lots of very serious security issues for people, as well.

The last four pandemics have all been a result of wildlife passing on viruses to humans. If there were more habitat space, the chance for the virus to spread from wildlife to humans is much less.

Climate change causes food and water shortages, which can lead to civil unrest. In the future, climate refugees fleeing problem areas might create huge problems for many countries.

Working On Solutions

While the problems with climate security and climate change are huge, organizations like the Climate Leadership Council are providing leadership in finding solutions. They partner will businesses and environmental leaders to address the very pressing environmental concerns that the world is dealing with.

Please check back here for more articles about our world.