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How far are biodiversity loss and climate change similar as policy issues?

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Abstract

Climate change and biodiversity loss have a central position in policy debate about global environmental change; however, of the two, climate change has a higher profile. This paper explores the similarities and difference between the two issues. Climate change is better defined and better understood as a policy issue, it is underpinned by a strong scientific consensus and practical units of measurement (CO2 and financial impacts), and mitigation involves a key economic sector in energy. Biodiversity loss is less easily understood, more diffuse and less tangible, and policy responses do not engage major economic sectors. We argue that these differences contribute to the higher public and policy profile of climate change and can inform attempts to enhance responses to the problem of biodiversity loss.

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Notes

  1. A third post-Rio agreement, the Convention to Combat Desertification, was agreed in 1996. Its provisions are not closely integrated to the CBD and UNFCC.

  2. We use the terms of the papers, but have change their order for the purpose of our comparison.

  3. Surveys among the European population in August–September 2009 found CC to be the second “most serious problem faced by the world today” cited, after “poverty, the lack of food and drinking water” (European Commission 2009, p. 5). This was confirmed in June 2011 (European Commission 2011, p. 5).

  4. International Standard Organisation, http://www.iso.org. Consulted October 12, 2011. “Climate” gives 11 standards.

  5. http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2266348/un-warns-biodiversity-loss.

  6. http://orangehairyape.com/ape/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Management and Land-Use Planning, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Edwin Zaccai

  2. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    William M. Adams

Authors
  1. Edwin Zaccai
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  2. William M. Adams
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Correspondence to Edwin Zaccai.

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Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.

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Zaccai, E., Adams, W.M. How far are biodiversity loss and climate change similar as policy issues?. Environ Dev Sustain 14, 557–571 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-012-9344-x

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