Climate change 'threat' to wildlife

The Modelling Natural Resource Responses to Climate Change (Monarch) report illustrates potential impacts of climate change on some of the country's rarest and most threatened species, under different projected levels of greenhouse gas emissions to the 2080s. It is the result of a seven-year research programme led by Natural England.

Minister for biodiversity Barry Gardiner, launching the report at Hainault Forest, Redbridge, said: "Climate change is the most serious threat to biodiversity in the 21st Century."

He continued: "It is already happening and its impacts will continue for decades to come. We need to take action now to ensure that our plants and wildlife are able to adapt.

"Everyone can join in the effort to conserve the UK's biodiversity by reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.

"This could be as simple as not leaving TVs on standby or turning off lights when they are not being used."

Mr Gardiner also launched "Conserving biodiversity in a changing climate" guidance, which explains six key strategies that can be used now by land managers to help wildlife adapt to climate change.

The guidance recommends that to allow species to find new homes as climate changes it will be necessary to manage entire landscapes, not just the protected sites where species now occur.

The Monarch programme studied the projected change in suitable climate for 120 rare or threatened species that are currently being conserved through the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Thirty-two of these were explored in detail and it was found that a majority are likely to experience changes in the location and/or extent of areas where the climate will meet their requirements.