“The search for negative emissions solutions is now looking to nature, where instead of searchers merely viewing species and ecosystems needing protection from climate change, species and ecosystems are increasingly being viewed as playing a hand in mitigating it.” 1
A fortuitous conversation with my sister-in-law recently led me down an educational and inspiring google scholar rabbit-hole to the article; Animating the Carbon Cycle: How Wildlife Conservation Can Be a Key to Mitigate Climate Change1by Oswald Schmitz and Magnus Sylvén, which is quoted above. The title and introduction immediately drew me in. As a wildlife veterinarian, the veterinary sustainability goal of ‘diverse and abundant wildlife’ is forefront, and I had not discovered a clearly stated link to mitigation before.
The article describes the science and politics of animating the carbon cycle, as well as the ethics and shift in thinking that is required to tackle the dual objective of saving biodiversity and mitigating climate change. Although written from a perspective of rewilding, the content is also tremendously applicable to geographical areas where wild still exists. Protecting and preserving ecosystems in their functionally dynamic state does not only ensure a good life for animals and diverse and abundant wildlife, but it can also achieve multiple sustainable development goals.
“There is some urgency because we are losing populations of many wildlife species at the very time when we are discovering the degree to which their functioning in ecosystems can substantially enhance negative emissions” 1
Schmitz, the Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology in the Yale University School of the Environment, and his colleague shave published numerous articles that contribute significantly to research focused on animals’ impact on the carbon cycle and the connection between climate change mitigation and biodiversity. Diving into this body of work will undoubtably foster better understanding and equip veterinarians to collaborate and connect with the community and policy makers we share sustainability goals with.
- Oswald J. Schmitz & Magnus Sylvén (2023) Animating the Carbon Cycle: How Wildlife Conservation Can Be a Key to Mitigate Climate Change, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development,65:3, 5-17, DOI: 10.1080/00139157.2023.218
