“Biodiversity and climate are tightly linked. Many ecosystems where carbon is stored are very diverse. The destruction of tropical forests, savannas and wetlands releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Protection or restoration of these ecosystems is added value for the climate and for biodiversity. But we can’t expect the ecosystems to protect us from climate change. Quick and massive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is the top priority.”

“For a safe future, we need to take an integrated approach to the two crises of climate change and global biodiversity loss. That’s the conclusion of the joint workshop report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). For example, biodiverse forests are long-term carbon sinks and are more resistant to extreme weather events. And when we grow biomass for sustainable energy production, we should protect biodiversity by avoiding monocultures.”

“Genetic diversity is the foundation for any kind of plant breeding and is an internationally protected good. With modern phenotyping, we can characterize the structural and functional diversity of plants, which is a prerequisite for adapting them to drought, heat, heavy rain and hail, and for resistance to diseases that are spreading with climate change.”

“Biodiversity and climate are so inextricably linked that neither crisis can be solved without the other. Effective environmental protection and conservation, the restoration of destroyed habitats, and careful and sustainable use of Earth’s natural resources are a basic requirement for limiting climate change on a lasting basis and ensuring a livable future for everybody. That can only be achieved with ambitious emissions cuts and intact ecosystems.

”Crop production is and will remain under pressure from changing climatic conditions. Unfortunately, there is no single ‘magic crop’ that could cope with the entire range of environmental conditions. However, there is a great deal of genetic and phenotypic diversity in most major crops such as wheat, corn or tomatoes. This ‘cultivated biodiversity’ is of the utmost importance for the future of food production.”

“We can observe how Earth is changing and what we see is alarming, because species and habitats are disappearing rapidly. To intervene, to systematically counteract the loss of diversity, we need to understand how complex systems function. We need to model their spatiotemporal dynamics in order to gain a deep understanding of processes we can actively shape in order to maintain our future ecosystems on Earth.“

“We can’t allow the preservation of biodiversity to remain on the sidelines of environmental policy or development aid if we’re to stop the depletion of our vital resources. Biodiversity has to be given broad consideration in government regulations, subsidy programs and development aid, private-sector loans and investments, and standards. Implementing the new biodiversity goals will cost billions and billions of euros. What matters is exactly which measures and initiatives are actually implemented. There’s great potential in NOT spending money, for example on harmful subsidies for construction and infrastructure, development aid or agricultural policy.”