Audubon Calls on World Leaders to Take Rapid Motion to Fight Local weather and Biodiversity Disaster
WASHINGTON (November 7, 2022) — Because the world gathers in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for the most recent Convention of the Events of the UNFCCC (COP27), the Nationwide Audubon Society — the main hen conservation group of the Americas — urges world leaders to take motion towards the local weather disaster. Every year, the necessity for collaborative world motion not solely turns into extra obvious, however extra dire.
“At this 12 months’s COP, world leaders should work collectively to implement a simply power transition to guard each wildlife and other people,” mentioned Elizabeth Grey, CEO of the Nationwide Audubon Society. “We have to take heed to what birds inform us. We’ve misplaced three billion birds within the final 50 years. Birds are sentinels for wholesome local weather – if birds are in hassle, individuals are too.”
In 2019, analysis from Audubon revealed that in North America alone, two-thirds of hen species are prone to extinction. That very same examine additionally confirmed that if we will stabilize carbon emissions and restrict warming to 1.5°C, over 75% of these birds might be much less susceptible and 150 hen species will be saved from extinction. But a new report from the United Nations signifies we’re on observe for a 2.5°C enhance by the top of the century, which might put birds, wildlife, and other people at nice danger.
Defending the pure world for birds additionally safeguards the world for future generations. As Audubon scientists present in a 2021 examine, vital hen habitats typically overlap with key ecosystems for pure carbon storage. Forests, wetlands, and peatlands are central to each local weather mitigation and adaptation. If these precedence landscapes are strategically restored and maintained, they won’t solely function secure havens for myriad hen species, however can double their capacities as pure carbon sinks. That can also be why any renewable power infrastructure have to be sited in ways in which mitigate and reduce destructive impacts for birds and different wildlife.
Based in 1905, the Nationwide Audubon Society is a nonprofit conservation group — with a wingspan of over 500 nationwide chapters and 1.6 million members — that protects birds and their ecosystems utilizing science, advocacy, schooling, and on-the-ground conservation. From shutting down the plumage commerce to banning the pesticides that prompted the “Silent Spring,” to mobilizing to move the Endangered Species Act, the Clear Air Act, and the Clear Water Act, Audubon has been on the forefront in defending the locations birds and other people want for over a century.
Audubon’s work all through the Americas aligns intently with the overarching slogan of COP27, “Collectively In the direction of Implementation.” This fall, Audubon launched the Chook Migration Explorer, a first-of-its-kind digital platform that reveals the most recent migration information for greater than 450 species throughout the Western Hemisphere.
This 12 months’s COP has launched one other significant message: #JustAndAmbitious. In each its nationwide and worldwide work, Audubon acknowledges that the local weather disaster is already affecting probably the most marginalized amongst us, and any world effort and transition to renewable power should search to handle systematic injustices.
“We should use this COP and the 12 months forward to implement collective motion that reduces local weather impacts and safeguards the outstanding range of all life on earth,” mentioned Grey.
This press launch will be discovered at: https://www.audubon.org/information/audubon-calls-world-leaders-take-immediate-action-combat-climate-and
About Audubon
The Nationwide Audubon Society protects birds and the locations they want, as we speak and tomorrow. Audubon works all through the Americas utilizing science, advocacy, schooling, and on-the-ground conservation. State applications, nature facilities, chapters, and companions give Audubon an unparalleled wingspan that reaches thousands and thousands of individuals annually to tell, encourage, and unite numerous communities in conservation motion. A nonprofit conservation group since 1905, Audubon believes in a world wherein folks and wildlife thrive. Be taught extra at www.audubon.org and on Fb, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.
Media contact: Robyn Shepherd, robyn.shepherd@audubon.org