2.2) Why is it Important to Plan for Climate Change?

Biodiversity and ecosystem services support people to adapt to climate change through approaches collectively called ecosystems based adaptation. Conservation, restoration and sustainable management of ecosystems can help reduce vulnerability to climatic hazards such ecology, disrupting fishing, reducing food security and ultimately reducing climate change resilience in local communities. 

The science of climate change is clear. The climate is already changing, and additional changes are unavoidable. 

Find out more about why COP26 is so important here

Scientists use climate models to understand complex earth systems.

The global climate model (GCM) is a complex mathematical representation of the major climate system components (atmosphere, land surface, ocean, and sea ice), and their interactions.

 The main climate system components treated in a climate model are:
• The atmospheric component, which simulates clouds and aerosols, and plays a large role in transport of heat and water around the globe.
• The land surface component, which simulates surface characteristics such as vegetation, snow cover, soil water, rivers, and carbon storing.
• The ocean component, which simulates current movement and mixing, and biogeochemistry, since the ocean is the dominant reservoir of heat and carbon in the climate system. 
• The sea ice component, which modulates solar radiation absorption and air-sea heat and water exchanges.

Illustration of the three-dimensional grid of a climate model.

Recognition is needed so that biodiversity conservation can support the achievement of climate change mitigation and adaptation aims, and reduce risks to the permanence of climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits.

This video explaining climate modeling was created by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in collaboration with Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

2.4) What Can Climate Models Tell Us About the Future and Past?

For many decades, scientists have been collecting data on climate using cores from ice, trees, and coral, as well as carbon dating. From this research they have discovered details about past human activity, temperature changes in our oceans, periods of extreme drought, and much more.

Climate models work like a laboratory in a computer. They allow scientists to study how different factors interact to influence a region’s climate.

2.5) Why Are Climate Models Important?

Understanding the past, present and future climate helps us to understand how Earth's systems work normally. This information, along with climate models, enables us to determine how natural and human influences affect and influence climate change. These predictions and results may also suggest how to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, and it helps decision makers prioritize environmental issues based on scientific evidences.

Wildlife depends on healthy habitats. They need the right temperatures, fresh water, food sources, and places to raise their young. Climate change is altering key habitat elements that are critical to wildlife's survival and putting natural resources in jeopardy.

A climate model predicts future temperatures. This model was developed by several climate modeling research groups, including NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Planning for Climate Change Will Not Be Easy, but this will increase attention of environmental global goals and principle of justice.

Species may not be able to adapt to rapid climate change or to move fast enough to more suitable areas as their current habitats become less suitable for them. 

Climate change is confusing those signals and forcing wildlife to alter their life cycle and seasonal events.

 Changes in climate and extreme weather events have already begun to affect people and nature across the globe. 

Oceans and seas are the largest storage of greenhouse gases and are an exceptional support system for life on this planet. Limiting overfishing, unsustainable development activities in coastal areas and the consumption of environmentally friendly products is now essential.