Climate Change and Its Impact on Biodiversity Conservation and Ecological Resilience
Authors:
Journal Name: Life Science Reports
Abstract
Climate change is a major driver of biodiversity loss and a critical challenge to ecological resilience worldwide. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, ocean warming and acidification, and more frequent extreme events are shifting species distributions, degrading habitats, and increasing extinction risks—often acting together with land-use change, pollution, and invasive species. Maintaining and restoring ecological resilience requires rapid mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptive conservation strategies (including dynamic protected-area design, connectivity, and assisted migration), and integration of biodiversity objectives into climate policy. Equitable governance, Indigenous and local knowledge, and nature-based solutions that deliver co-benefits for people and ecosystems are essential to limit biodiversity loss and sustain ecosystem services. Immediate, coordinated action can reduce risks and preserve key functions, but delays will lock in losses that are increasingly difficult or impossible to reverse.