Earth Protect Blog

In 2019 Audubon’s Survival by Degrees report sounded a stark warning: Without meaningful action to mitigate the impacts of climate change, two-thirds of North American bird species are at risk of extinction. This Natural Climate Solutions Report provides a scientific framework to help us address this existential threat.

 We focused on one of the most powerful tools in the climate toolkit: the natural ability of ecosystems to store carbon. By keeping more carbon in the ground and capturing it in plants, we can reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

 The researchers looked at forests, grasslands, aridlands, coastal and interior wetlands, tundra, and urban and suburban ecosystems. In each, they found significant overlap between important bird habitat and areas of high carbon value. The bottom line: what’s good for birds is also good for climate change mitigation. Read about these and three additional ecosystems in the Natural Climate Solutions Report. Key findings:
 

•Ongoing conservation and restoration of the priority areas identified in our report are estimated to deliver up to 23 percent of the U.S. commitment to draw down greenhouse-gas emissions in the 2016 Paris Agreement.
 

•The majority of these priority areas are on private lands, including upward of 60 percent of priority forests, 65 percent of priority coastal wetlands, and 81 percent of priority grasslands identified in this report. These findings point to the vital role of landowner and community engagement in land management and stewardship.