Biodiversity decline: an important measure of Carbon footprint

Greenhouse gas emissions and temperature levels have lately been the thrust of measuring carbon output, and ultimately climate change. Considering the goals of COP26 too, climate change is being associated majorly with vehicular and industrial emission, energy change and adopting measures that focus on lowering the emissions. But climate change is a much wider phenomenon of changes about the Earth.

 Although research is profound, yet on policy level there is a lack of implementation. The continuous rise in greenhouse gases not only has implications for average temperatures but also for plant and animal life. These climatic disturbances in terms of natural ecosystems are highly concerning and will eventually cause irreversible damages and incur very high socio-economic costs. The least developed countries and small island developing States are among the most vulnerable. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species climate change currently affects around 10,967 species; putting them at threat of extinction. It begins with behavioral changes in plant and animal species due to climate change, especially in their breeding habits like in the case of North American tree swallows and migration (Chinook salmon). This has recently gained global attention, but it's not something new or an overnight process. We have entered the Anthropocene Era, where mankind's interaction with nature has degraded land and wild beings to an extent of extinction. There are a few things to be kept in mind regarding that. Man has always interacted with nature, and the natural decay of life is a universal truth. But the rate and scale at which this happens, has escalated since the onset of industrialization and globalization. So there have been communities that have over hunted and over cultivated, but with our new globalized way of living and consumptive patterns, the data is quite staggering. We come to know that every day we are losing 200 species on average, many creatures like frogs dying of fungal diseases. The rapid urbanization and demand for space are pushing habitat loss to an extreme extent. Human development does not fall in line with nature preservation and there is an exploitative aspect about it. It's not a macroeconomic issue but a fundamental issue that needs to be fixed at every single level. Though there have been some notable initiatives both public and privately-led in preserving their native flora and fauna. Mexico had authorized more than 300 water reserves, including one for the country’s longest remaining free-flowing river, the Usumacinta River to preserve freshwater ecosystems. The recent intervention by the Wildlife Institute of India to demarcate the area around the airport development land to protect the Blackbuck and Crane populations. But resource allocation by governments and private organizations is still not very robust. Everyone plays an essential role in maintaining the equilibrium of Earth and the decline in population or loss of any one of the species acts as a butterfly effect in the degradation of the natural environment.