Tuesday, August 03, 2021

One of world's rarest chameleons found clinging to survival

Urgent conservation measures are needed to save a Critically Endangered species of chameleon which has been found clinging to survival in patches of rainforest in Malawi.

But a survey carried out in 2016 by a team from the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Museums of Malawi—the results of which are now being published for the first time—has found populations of the tiny reptiles in surviving patches of forest.Chapman's Pygmy Chameleon (Rhampholeon chapmanorum), which grows to a length of just five-and-a-half centimetres, was first described in 1992 and is believed to be one of the world's rarest chameleons. It was feared extinct due to the destruction of its native forest in the Malawi Hills, much of which has been cut down for agriculture.

They estimate that the forest—and with it chameleon numbers—has shrunk by 80 percent since the 1980s. A genetic (DNA) analysis also suggests that the animals are trapped in their forest patches, unable to move between them to breed. Without this interbreeding, genetic diversity will be lost over time and this poses another serious threat to the species' survival.

The study, published in Oryx—The International Journal of Conservation, was led by Professor Krystal Tolley from the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the University of the Witwatersrand.

It was her assessment work in 2014 which led the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) to list Chapman's Pygmy Chameleon as Critically Endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species. Comparing satellite images of the Malawi Hills with those taken in the 1980s revealed dramatic forest loss, with the area where the chameleon was first described having been completely cleared. What remained had become fragmented—small patches of forest, cut off from each other.

Fearing the chameleon may have become extinct, Prof. Tolley and her fellow researchers turned to crowdfunding website, RocketHub, to raise the money needed to survey the remaining patches for any surviving populations.

Chameleon enthusiasts responded to the appeal, donating $5,670 which included a $1,000 donation from the Scion Natural Science Association, and was enough for the researchers to survey two of the remaining forest patches in the Malawi Hills and an area 95 km away near Mikundi, where 37 of the chameleons had been released in 1998 to try to safeguard the species.

The chameleons were found in all three locations and Prof. Tolley described the survey team's jubilation at discovering that the species was still present.

She said: "The first one we found was in the transition zone on the forest edge, where there are some trees but mostly maize and cassava plants. When we found it we got goosebumps and just started jumping around. We didn't know if we would get any more, but once we got into the forest there were plenty, although I don't know how long that will last."

Samples taken from the chameleons were then analyzed to see if their genetic diversity had also been reduced. While this was not evident, the researchers believe this may be because such effects take time to show.

They did see evidence that the flow of genes between the fragmented populations had been disrupted. In effect, each forest patch is now home to a small, isolated population, unable to breed with chameleons in neighboring patches. This will reduce genetic diversity over time and increases the extinction risk for the species as a whole.

Prof. Tolley said: "The forest loss requires immediate attention before this species reaches a point from which it cannot return. Urgent conservation action is needed, including halting of forest destruction and recovery of habitat to promote connectivity."

The researchers suggest including the remaining forest as part of the nearby Matandwe Forest Reserve so it can be proclaimed as a Key Biodiversity Area, and introducing strong measures to ensure its protection. They also recommend more and thorough surveys of the chameleons to monitor their population and genetic diversity and call for the involvement of local landowners in protecting the Mikundi forest and its population as some insurance against the loss of the chameleon's natural range in the Malawi Hills.

Overall, they say a comprehensive and properly funded action plan needs to be drawn up and enacted to prevent the species becoming extinct.

Prof. Tolley said: "They are little, gentle creatures. Other chameleon species can be hysterical, hissing and biting, but pygmy chameleons are gentle and just beautiful.

"Chapman's in particular are one of the smallest and don't have a prehensile tail like most chameleons, perhaps because they aren't particularly arboreal but walk about on the forest floor in the leaf litter, crawling up into low bushes at night to sleep. They blend right into the leaf litter and perfectly pattern match the dead leaves.

"They are mostly brown but they can change to quite beautiful blues and greens with little dots all over them and that's probably a way of communicating with each other. They also vibrate and we could feel it when we held them. We don't really know why but it's also probably some form of communication. The fact they do it while held in our hands could mean it's a way to try and scare predators."

She added: "I get sad when I think what's happening to them—what we are doing to their habitat. They are really just helpless victims."Team discovers 3 chameleon species

More information: Clinging to survival: Critically Endangered Chapman's pygmy chameleon (Rhampholeon chapmanorum) persists in shrinking forest patches, Oryx (2021). DOI: doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000952

Journal information: Oryx

Provided by Cambridge University Press

Bird and mammal diversity is declining with biological invasions

by CNRS

The introduction of invasive species leads to a decline in certain native species. A team of researchers from the CNRS and the University of Paris-Saclay has managed to show that 11% of the global phylogenetic diversity of birds and mammals, in other words their accumulated evolutionary history, is threatened by biological invasions. Their ability to adapt to environmental changes could thus be largely lost due to biological invasions. This work, published in Global Change Biology on August 2, 2021, provides better insight into the future of ecosystems and the loss of certain species.

Globalization has led to an increase in the introduction of species outside their natural distribution zone. The introduction of so-called invasive species (the Asian hornet in France is one example) leads to a decline in certain local ones: Biological invasions represent one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss on a global scale and the primary driver in island regions.

Until now, studies on biological invasions have mainly focused on the number of species threatened with extinction. The study, carried out by scientists from the CNRS and the University of Paris-Saclay, makes it possible to go further by identifying and quantifying the profiles of bird and mammal species at risk.

The researchers showed that 11% of the phylogenetic diversity of these two groups, i.e. their accumulated evolutionary history, is threatened by biological invasions. The study also revealed that invasive species have an even greater impact on the ecological strategies of these groups, i.e. the means they have to feed, live, function and defend themselves from other species. Biological invasions threaten 40% of the diversity of ecological strategies of birds and 14% of that of mammals.

This work confirms that as a group birds are particularly vulnerable to invasions. Indeed, many birds, particularly from oceanic island regions, are less able than their continental counterparts to adapt their strategies to more generalist invasive species.

For example, the kagu, an emblematic species of New Caledonia—unique from a phylogenetic point of view, as it is the only representative of the Rhynochetidae family—is threatened in particular by the rat. This bird does not fly and feeds only on the ground. It is therefore unable to adapt to a new land predator such as the rat. Other bird species, including pollinators and seed dispersers, are also at risk from biological invasions. The disappearance of these species would therefore have consequences for the functioning of the ecosystems of which they are an active part.

This research allows us to better anticipate future losses of birds and mammals and the possible consequences on ecosystems.Global warming helps invasive species flourish—study models likely combined effects on ecosystems

More information: Looming extinctions due to invasive species: Irreversible loss of ecological strategy and evolutionary history, Global Change Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.1577

Journal information: Global Change Biology

Provided by CNRS

ZOONOTIC ORIGIN OF PATHOGENS

Mammal biodiversity shapes disease risk

NO LAB LEAK REQUIRED

by Wageningen University

Mammal biodiversity shapes disease risk — Predicted change in disease risk from 2015 to 2035 under a pessimistic global change scenario, i.e., one with high population growth, reactive environmental protection, and vulnerabilities to climate change that vary regionally. Credit: Wageningen University

To predict the spillover of pathogens from wildlife to humans and limit future pandemics, it is important to understand where wildlife disease risk is highest. A team of researchers, led by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in The Netherlands, report that mammal biodiversity is an important mechanism driving wildlife disease risk. They identified hotspots of disease risk using the predicted distributions and abundances of more than 4,000 mammal species worldwide.

Mammals can carry pathogens that are transmittable to humans (so-called zoonotic pathogens). SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is one example. The researchers found that spatial variation in mammal assemblage richness and abundance shapes wildlife disease risk. "With one quarter of all mammal species threatened by extinction, we urgently need to understand how biodiversity loss influences zoonotic disease risk," says Yingying Wang. Wang initiated this study as part of her Ph.D. at WUR. She is currently affiliated with University of Jyväskylä in Finland.

She and her colleagues first used information on climate and the habitat preferences, body masses, and diets of mammals, to model terrestrial mammal assemblages worldwide. That is: how many individuals of what species live together and where? Based on these assemblages, they were able to calculate disease risk using an ecological version of the epidemiological parameter R-naught. This "community-level" R-naught represents the basic reproduction number for pathogens that infect multiple hosts. This approach was then extended to forecast disease risk.

Hotspots

The results predicted high disease risk in tropical areas where biodiversity is highest, but there were also risky temperate areas. Risk of density-dependent diseases was high in the equatorial tropics and in temperature Europe, North America, and Asia, while risk of frequency-dependent diseases was high in the northernmost parts of North America and Eurasia and in Oceania.

These predictions fit well with past global patterns of disease outbreaks. However, there were still some surprises according to Kevin Matson, wildlife ecologist at WUR. Matson: "People often view the tropics as risky in terms of the emergence of new diseases from wildlife. But our predictions highlight the possibility that new outbreaks may also occur outside the tropics." According to Matson, one reason may be that some mammals, in particular rodents, in temperate areas are better at sharing some viruses among host species, though he notes that this possibility was not explicitly tested in the current research.

Biodiversity loss and disease risk

In the face on an ongoing biodiversity crisis caused by habitat loss, climate change, and other global forces, the researchers also wondered how wildlife disease risk might change in the coming decades. To do this, they extended their model to incorporate environmental changes anticipated under two different pathways: one with a relatively rosy view of the future and a second, more pessimistic one. It turns out that species do not have to go locally extinct to impact disease risk, as often assumed. Substantial changes in disease risk can occur without extinction of any species, instead being influenced by changes in relative abundance.

"A little more of this species and a little less of that one can do the trick," says Fred de Boer, wildlife ecologist and colleague of Matson at WUR. "For example, large species may regulate the abundance of smaller ones, which means we have to consider that conserving larger species could serve as an important control measure. Findings as such this one force us to acknowledge the nuance and complexity of relationships between biodiversity and disease. It is exciting that our predictions fit so well with past global patterns of disease outbreaks. This suggests that we've made a step in the right direction of understanding how the relationship between disease risk and biodiversity really works," De Boer concludes.

The study is published in the journal Global Change Biology.

A diversity of wildlife is good for our health

More information: Yingying X. G. Wang et al, Mammal assemblage composition predicts global patterns in emerging infectious disease risk, Global Change Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15784

Journal information: Global Change Biology

Provided by Wageningen University

AUSTRALIA

Bandicoots return to Sturt National Park after more than a century

by University of New South Wales

Locally extinct western barred bandicoots have returned to Sturt National Park after more than 100 years.

The nationally threatened species—known by local Aboriginal people as "talpero"—once ranged across inland Australia, including the area now managed as Sturt National Park. The small, native marsupials became extinct in the region after ecosystem changes caused by rabbits and predation by feral cats and foxes.

Now, a founding population of talpero have been reintroduced to the area by the team at Wild Deserts, a collaboration led by UNSW Sydney ecologists and Ecological Horizons with NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and Taronga Conservation Society Australia.

Their reintroduction is another major milestone in the Wild Deserts conservation project, which last year reintroduced bilbies and mulgaras into the national park.

"The season has been tremendous out here with the rains we had last year and then again in March," says UNSW's Dr. Rebecca West, an ecologist based at Wild Deserts.

"These rains have helped create a highly productive system that is excellent for the reintroduction of this species."

The Wild Deserts team eradicated every last rabbit, cat and fox from two 2000 hectare feral-proof fenced exclosures within Sturt National Park, creating one of the largest feral-animal-free areas in Australia.

These exclosures work as 'training zones," where reintroduced vulnerable species can learn to live in the wild without dangers from predators like cats and foxes.

When their populations start thriving, the animals will be released into a second training area with predators, where they will learn to become predator-smart.

The ultimate project aim is to release a smarter generation of bandicoots and other locally extinct mammals back into the wild.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean says: "The reintroduction of this important species to the Corner Country in Sturt National Park is another huge step in our battle to halt and reverse the tide of mammal extinctions.

"Our aim is to re-establish ecosystems as they were before feral cats, foxes and rabbits wreaked havoc on Australian native wildlife."

Talpero are the smallest members of the bandicoot family, roughly the size of a guinea pig. They can be distinguished from other bandicoots by their fawn-colored coat with pale stripes across their rump.

The nocturnal marsupials dig for their food in sandy environments, making foraging pits to find seeds, tubers, insects and fungi. This process turns the soil and helps it catch water and nutrients, contributing to the overall health of the ecosystem.

The Wild Deserts team have introduced 10 talpero as a founding population, but they hope to add more members soon.

"If they keep doing as well as they are, then I think we will be able to add some more characters to the mix," says Dr. West.

"Hopefully that will re-establish bandicoots back into Sturt National Park into the future."

A recovering ecosystem

The founding talpero population are from Arid Recovery, an independent not-for-profit conservation and research project that manages a large feral-free safe haven near Roxby Downs in South Australia.

The marsupials were released into Wild Deserts' southern exclosure, called "Mingku' – named after the word meaning happy in the Maljangapa language. The talpero joined two other recently reintroduced species, the bilbies and mulgaras.

"This is an important step in restoring this desert ecosystem," says Professor Richard Kingsford, leader of the Wild Deserts project and director of the UNSW Centre for Ecosystem Science.

"We are already starting to see the beginnings of a transformation occurring in the landscape. The soil is starting to turn over, which gives great opportunities for lots of little invertebrates and catches water and nutrients.

"We think that's part of how we can transform these deserts back into what they were."

Dr. John Read from Ecological Horizons, a major partner of the Wild Deserts project, says "These energetic little diggers at Wild Deserts are important culturally, historically and ecologically and will be great for restoring the desert."

The Wild Deserts scientists will check in on the animals daily using radio tracking devices to ensure they're adapting well to their new environment.

"We have deliberately designed the Wild Deserts project to allow us opportunities for scientific monitoring to assess our management and the success of the species," says UNSW's Dr. Reece Pedler, the Wild Deserts project coordinator.

"We hope to establish talpero in other parts of the Wild Deserts site—and ultimately into neighboring areas of Sturt National Park or beyond. We have already recorded recruitment of young that were translocated in pouch and other young that were born at Wild Deserts."

Wild Deserts is part of a major NSW Government initiative to protect threatened native mammals via the Reintroduction of Locally Extinct Mammals project and the Saving our Species initiative.

Next, the team plan to reintroduce other threatened mammals into the Wild Deserts exclosures, including western quolls, stick-nest rats and golden bandicoots.Landmark release sees bilbies return to Sturt National Park in NSW

Provided by University of New South Wales

Sierra Nevada red fox to be listed as federally endangered

by Scott Sonner

The slender, bushy-tailed Sierra Nevada red fox will be listed as an endangered species, federal wildlife officials announced Monday, saying its population has dipped to just 40 animals in area of California stretching from Lake Tahoe to south of Yosemite National Park.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided against listing a distinct population of the foxes in the southern Cascade Range of Oregon and near Lassen Peak in Northern California.

But it said in a listing rule to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday that the Sierra Nevada segment south of Tahoe "is in danger of extinction throughout all of its range."

"While the exact number remains unknown and is also subject to change with new births and deaths, it is well below population levels that would provide resiliency, redundancy and representation to the population."

It provided no estimate of the number of red foxes remaining in the Cascade Range.

One of the rarest mammals in North America, the red foxes in the Sierra already are vulnerable due to threats of wildfire, drought, competition in coyotes, reductions in prey and inbreeding with non-native foxes.

Additional future threats include climate change, as scientists project continuing loss of snowpack and of the general subalpine habitat to which the Sierra Nevada population segment has adapted, the agency said.

This will likely lead to increased numbers of coyotes in high-elevation areas and to increased competition between coyotes and Sierra Nevada foxes for prey, the service said.

Some biologists believed 20 years ago the Sierra Nevada population already had gone extinct before a small remnant population was confirmed in 2010. California banned red fox trapping in 1974.

The Center for Biological Diversity first petitioned for federal protection in 2011 and filed lawsuits in 2013 and 2019 before the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the species for addition to the endangered list in 2020.

The Sierra Nevada red fox has declined dramatically because of poisoning and trapping, habitat destruction from logging and livestock grazing and disturbance from off-road vehicles and snowmobiles, said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate for the center. He said the animals face the same threats in the Cascade Mountains to Mount Hood, Oregon.

"This is an important step, but the Fish and Wildlife Service should also protect these imperiled animals in the Cascades," he said Monday.

The Sierra Nevada red fox is one of 10 North American subspecies of the red fox. The small, doglike carnivores stretch about 3.5 feet (1.1 meter) long and have elongated snouts, pointed ears and large tails.

With deep winter coats and small toe pads, they are specially equipped to adapt to cold, snowy areas. They feed on small mammals.

The Fish and Wildlife Service noted it is not proposing designation of critical habitat for the species at this time because habitat "does not appear to be a limiting factor for the species."

The agency estimates the 18 to 39 animals remaining in the Sierra extend south of California State Highway 88 from just south of Lake Tahoe into the easternmost portion of Yosemite Park in Tuolumne and Madera counties, as well as portions of Alpine, Mono, Fresno and Inyo counties.

Most of the foxes—between 10 and 31—are known to occupy an area north of Yosemite. About five have been spotted just east of Yosemite, and three have been identified south of Yosemite, in the general area of Mono Creek. All sightings have been on federal

DNA found in poop helps scientists learn about secretive fox

New DNA study provides critical information on conserving rainforest lizards

by Andrea Godinez, University of Washington

A study published June 16 in Biotropica by a team of researchers at the University of Washington, the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, WWF Hong Kong and the University of Colombo has provided an important road map to conserving rough-nosed horned lizards in Sri Lanka

Rough-nosed horned lizards, or Ceratophora aspera, are small lizards that live in Sri Lankan rainforests and aren't found anywhere else in the world. Characterized by the prominent horn in males, rough-nosed horned lizards live in moist, humid microhabitats in rainforests and palm groves. These lizards are particularly well-suited to understand the consequences of rainforest habitat destruction, climate change and the pet trade, as they are found throughout the lowland rainforests of Southwestern Sri Lanka. By analyzing the certain types of mutations in the genome of these lizards, the team was able to determine how geography and historical events impact the distribution of the remaining wild populations of rough-nosed horned lizards. Recent UW graduate Shanelle Wikramanayake led the study as part of her undergraduate work, and is now completing her master's degree at California State University, Northridge.

The team acquired DNA from the rough-nosed horned lizards by a catch-and-release approach of capturing wild lizards and taking tissue samples from the tips of their tails before releasing them back to the wild, which minimizes stress to the animals. Samples were taken across eight forests representing four forest groups from July through September 2018 and 2019, respectively. The remaining tissue samples will be housed along with photos of the lizards at the Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences at the University of Colombo. In addition, the DNA analysis from the team's work is also available online, where the samples and analysis are available for other researchers around the globe to study.

In addition to habitat destruction, nonnative species like cats and chickens eat these lizards, causing further harm to them and other prey animals. The team recommends a conservation strategy that considers the population structure, history and ecology of rough-nosed horned lizards to preserve genetic diversity.

The results from the DNA analysis found rough-nosed horned lizards are separated by distance into four forest groups: Southern Lowlands, Sabaragamuwa Hills, Central Highlands and Kithulgala. With the Sri Lankan government pledging to restore rainforest habitats, the results from the study can help inform guidelines for forest landscape restoration. For example, the similarities in populations and close geographic proximity between the lizards living in the Hiyare and Kottawa forest reserves in the Southern Lowlands forest group is a great candidate for habitat restoration. The two populations could be reconnected, increasing the chances for interbreeding, which could result in a stronger gene pool for future generations and less vulnerability to extinction.

"I hope this study brings attention to the unique and obscure biodiversity in the rainforests of Sri Lanka that require urgent conservation action," said Wikramanayake. "It's important to consider the genetic diversity in populations across their range when looking at conservation planning and strategies. This principle should also be considered in other forest ecosystems, where conservationists are planning restoration and habitat connectivity at landscape scales.

In addition to these lizards, the researchers are currently considering extending this work to other animals and other regions of Sri Lanka of high conservation value. In Sri Lanka, approximately 14% of mammals, 6.5% of birds, 75% of reptiles and 29% of flowering plant species aren't found anywhere else in the world. The methods of DNA analysis in this study not only inform conservation planning in Sri Lanka, but they also can be applied to species living in other rainforests that are at risk, including Madagascar, Borneo and the Amazon.

"I am proud and impressed with the hard work and passion that Shanelle Wikramanayake put into her project," said Adam Leaché, UW biology professor and Burke Museum curator of herpetology and genetic resources. "The Burke Museum is lucky to recruit such amazing undergraduates."

Geckos might lose their tails, but not their dinner

More information: Shanelle A. Wikramanayake et al, Integration of genetic structure into conservation of an endangered, endemic lizard, Ceratophora aspera : A case study from Sri Lanka, Biotropica (2021). DOI: 10.1111/btp.12970

Journal information: Biotropica

Provided by University of Washington

URBAN ECOLOGY

How landscapes of fear affect the songbirds in our backyards

by University of Massachusetts Amherst

A team of researchers headquartered at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has recently discovered that fear plays an important, unrecognized role in the underdevelopment, and increased vulnerability, of backyard songbirds.

Scientists have long known that urban songbirds face a host of increased challenges, from habitat loss to altered food sources and a larger population of predators, such as skunks, rats, squirrels and, especially, house cats, compared to their rural cousins. In particular, urban nestlings weigh significantly less than those born in the country and have a decreased chance of surviving to adulthood, as a result. New research, published in the journal Ecosphere, helps to tease out exactly why.

Part of the difficulty in figuring out why urban nestlings struggle is due to what biologists call the "predation paradox:" though there are increased numbers of predators in urban areas, there is actually a lower per-capita rate of predation. "The key," says Aaron Grade, the paper's lead author who completed this research as a graduate student in UMass Amherst's program in organismic and evolutionary biology, "has been hiding in plain sight. We haven't been paying enough attention to fear itself."

To arrive at this conclusion, Grade, along with his co-authors Susannah B. Lerman, research ecologist at the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station; and Paige S. Warren, professor in the department of environmental conservation at UMass Amherst; built 38 nest boxes for house wrens and placed them in participants' backyards. The participants lived in a variety of landscapes, all in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts, from the urban (Springfield, with a population density of 4,775 people per square mile), to low-density suburban (Amherst, 1,445 people per square mile) to the rural (Whately, 72 people per square mile).

Grade and his colleagues then played the cries of screech owls and Cooper's hawks, both of which feed upon house wrens in Massachusetts, from speakers installed in each participant's yard. "The participants were wonderful," says Grade. "They put up with this noise in their backyards and were very invested in the experiment." The nestlings in each box were then weighed every three days until they left the nest.

The authors discovered that, due to a variety of 'urban effects,' including availability of food, habitat loss and predation, urban nestlings all weighed about 10% less than the rural nestlings—an expected finding that is consistent with previous studies showing the effects of urban development on wildlife. But the authors also discovered that all the nestlings, both rural and urban, subjected to the owl and hawk cries saw a 10% decrease in weight as well.

"This is a largely unexplored component of human/wildlife interaction," says Grade. "Birds are very in-tune with what's going on, and if they see, or in this case hear, a predator, they'll change their behavior." For instance, the parent birds might spend less time finding food for their nestlings to avoid predation. "These landscapes of fear," says Grade, "can have a greater effect on behavior and survival than the actual predator itself."

In general, hobbyist birders should avoid using recordings of predators because they can cause unintended responses and undue stress in birds, as Grade's research shows. These experiments were carried out with approval by the UMass Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and followed best practices for playback experiments to reduce any potential harm.

Red-winged blackbird nestlings go silent when predators are near

More information: Aaron M. Grade et al, Perilous choices: landscapes of fear for adult birds reduces nestling condition across an urban gradient, Ecosphere (2021). DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3665

Journal information: Ecosphere

Provided by University of Massachusetts Amherst

New pathway to mitigate climate change and boost progress on UN Sustainable Development Goals

by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

A world that combats climate change while simultaneously improving on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is possible, a new study finds. Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the German Development Institute have developed a new integrated strategy that combines ambitious climate action with dedicated policies for development, food and energy access, global and national equity, and environmental sustainability. It sheds new light on bottlenecks, but also synergies for boosting progress towards climate and sustainable development targets.

"Climate policies are crucial, but on their own they will not be sufficient to achieve the transformation towards a sustainable and prosperous world for all—a vision that policymakers committed to by adopting the Paris Agreement and the SDGs in 2015. Not even one of the 17 SDGs will be met until 2030 if the world continues along the current trajectory. And this was even the case prior to the COVID-19 pandemic," states PIK scientist Björn Soergel, lead author of the study to be published in Nature Climate Change. "But the good news is: We also have the means to change this."

Policy interventions for decent living within ecological boundaries

In the new study, the scientists present a Sustainable Development Pathway—a dedicated strategy that safeguards people from climate change while at the same time moving towards the targets of the SDGs. To this end, the scientists examined different areas of action, like food, energy or global and national equity, and their effects on the prospects of meeting the SGDs. The model framework used in the study specifically aims for a broad coverage—of SDGs reaching from no poverty and zero hunger to climate action and other environmental goals—as many of them interact with each other and cannot be considered isolated.

In addition to climate policies consistent with the Paris Agreement, the pathway includes additional measures like healthy nutrition, international climate finance and a pro-poor redistribution of carbon pricing revenues. "These are some of the levers to make real progress towards the SDGs by 2030 and to continue along this track until 2050 and beyond. They allow us to reconcile a decent living for everyone with respecting the ecological boundaries of our planet," Soergel states.

Supplying healthy diets while protecting healthy ecosystems

While climate policies on their own could potentially increase food prices—among other reasons due to increased demand for bioenergy—this is not the case when climate protection is combined with other targeted policies and a change of lifestyles: "A change in our dietary habits towards less animal protein, as in the 'Planetary Health' diet recommended by an expert commission, proves to have far-reaching positive effects," explains PIK scientist and co-author Isabelle Weindl. "The 'Planetary Health' diet is nutritionally balanced and contains only modest amounts of animal-source food, and is thus much healthier than the average diet in industrialized countries. In addition, food production would require a lot less land, water and fertilizer, and would generate fewer greenhouse gases, compared to diets with a high share of meat or dairy. Changing our dietary habits thus helps to protect the climate and our ecosystems."

How to make climate policies benefit the global poor

Similarly, a transition away from energy-intensive lifestyles in high-income countries would balance out the increases in energy consumption required for decent living standards and infrastructure build-up in low-income countries. Another intervention area includes global equity and poverty alleviation in the form of international climate finance and a pro-poor redistribution of carbon pricing revenues: "We found that climate policies can also reduce poverty in the Global South. Our analysis shows that pricing greenhouse gas emissions, and using part of the revenues from industrialized countries to support sustainable development policies in low-income countries benefits both the planet and people," explains Soergel.

"A 'silo mentality' regarding climate change as an isolated issue would fail us. We need to combine climate protection with a broad sustainability strategy. This implies a mix of policy measures, with carbon pricing as an important cornerstone, but also includes, for example, redistributive policies and measures to promote healthy and sustainable diets and reduce our energy demand," concludes Elmar Kriegler, co-author of the study. "Our analysis presents a possible pathway towards a more sustainable future and shows that human well-being can be reconciled with planetary integrity. It is up to policymakers and society at large to turn this vision into tangible action."

Progressive climate policy can reduce extreme poverty: study

More information: A sustainable development pathway for climate action within the UN 2030 Agenda, Nature Climate Change (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01098-3 , www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01098-3

Journal information: Nature Climate Change

Provided by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

UN climate chief: Carbon dioxide savings plans submitted for global summit fall short

car emissions — Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A few months before the COP26 global climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the United Nations climate chief has called on the international community to make more ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gas emission

Patricia Espinosa said on Saturday that significantly more countries had submitted their plans for emissions reduction by Friday's deadline than had been submitted six months earlier.

However, only 58% of the countries have met the cut-off deadline, and proposals were often not ambitious enough.

So far, the joint efforts have fallen far short of the requirements of science, she said.

Experts agree that much more needs to be done worldwide by 2030 if global temperatures are to remain well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as agreed by almost 200 countries in Paris in 2015.

The earth has already heated up by around 1.2 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. The COP26 in Glasgow in November is considered an important milestone.

To reach the target, emissions would have to be cut by 45% by the end of this decade compared to 2010 levels, Espinosa said.

"Recent extreme heat waves, droughts and floods across the globe are a dire warning that much more needs to be done, and much more quickly, to change our current pathway," the U.N. climate chief said.

For this to happen, however, more ambitious goals must be issued and implemented.

UN: Carbon-cutting pledges by countries nowhere near enough

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