The endangered grass snake

The Bavarian pine vole has gone extinct. The rare purple subspecies of sea thrift is at risk of extinction. And the grass snake is endangered. The fascinating diversity of our planet – biodiversity – is diminishing more and more. According to the United Nations, one million species of flora and fauna around the globe are threatened with extinction. The primary drivers are human, degrading land use and environmental pollution. The 2021 to 2030 "UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration" may now give new impetus to the protection and sustainable use of ecosystems and thus also to biodiversity conservation. At the European level, the EU, as part of its Biodiversity Strategy, is setting nature restoration targets, which are intended to contribute to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity. They are also a focus of the Oeko-Institut's work.

Biodiversity merits protection for its beauty and richness alone. But we also need it for our own survival. "We utilise animals and plants for food and use biological raw materials to produce goods – such as timber for our houses or plant oils for cosmetics," says Judith Reise of the Oeko-Institut, "and at the same time we depend on what are known as ecosystem services." By this she means the sequestration of CO₂ in forests, plant pollination by insects, or the soil fertility that ensures our food supply.

And yet, collectively we humans destroy ecosystems. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), more than 50 per cent of the loss of species diversity is due to the overexploitation of resources and changes in land and marine use. Climate change, environmental pollution and invasive species also contribute to the problem. "Moreover, the existing protection mechanisms for species of flora and fauna lack sufficient implementation," says the scientist. "For example, enforcement of nature conservation and animal welfare legislation provisions at the federal and regional-state levels in this country is hampered by serious staff shortages.”

Restoring biodiversity

The EU Biodiversity Strategy envisages that at least 30 per cent of the EU's terrestrial and marine areas are to be converted into sustainably managed protected areas by 2030. Ten per cent of these areas are to be afforded particularly strict protection; this includes all remaining primary forests, for example. "Moreover, habitats that have been particularly badly damaged or are in poor condition are to be restored." Restoration in this context can include, for example, the rewetting of peatlands currently used for farming or the planting of trees – the new EU Biodiversity Strategy commits to the planting of at least 3 billion additional trees. By the end of 2021, the EU Commission aims to present restoration targets, i.e. goals for the restoration of natural habitats. "In formulating the restoration targets, the great challenge is to hold all EU member states accountable, but also to enable them to achieve the protection and restoration of ecosystems and their biodiversity," says Judith Reise. "The member states must set clear and quantitative targets to this end and establish appropriate monitoring. Moreover, funding needs to be secured.”

What is more, the restoration of ecosystems not only serves biodiversity but also climate change mitigation. "When tropical rainforests are cleared by burning, for example, not only do natural habitats and the most species-rich ecosystems on our planet get destroyed, but this also generates huge volumes of greenhouse gas emissions and destroys important global carbon sinks that absorb a lot of CO₂," the scientist explains. She also illustrates the urgent need to protect such ecosystems by adding a disquieting assessment: "Some experts fear that due to deforestation, global warming and the many fires in the Amazon, a tipping point could soon be reached after which parts of this valuable ecosystem will no longer be able to regenerate."

In the project entitled "Exploratory Analysis of an EU Sink and Restoration Target", commissioned by Greenpeace Germany, the Oeko-Institut analysed how carbon sequestration in natural sinks such as forests or peatlands could be strengthened in the LULUCF sector (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry). Forests in particular are at risk as a result of storms and droughts, causing tree mortality and allowing biological disturbances, such as the bark beetle, to spread more easily. "Here, too, we incorporated both climate change mitigation and biodiversity into our thinking," says Judith Reise. "If peatlands are re-restored and old-growth forests are protected, this makes them more resilient to climate phenomena such as storms, and they can absorb and sequester more carbon." The scientists defined a realistic target for potential CO₂ sequestration in natural sinks. In 2018, the EU LULUCF sector’s net sink was 280 megatonnes of CO₂, roughly the same as in 1990. "By 2030, natural sinks in the EU could store 400 to 600 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year," she said, "but to achieve this there should be binding and enforceable targets for the sinks’ development and protection." Important measures include sustainable forest management and the protection of old-growth forests. "We also need clear accounting and reporting rules and ecological and social sustainability criteria, including for biomass."

[Infografik:] Natural sinks could store 400 to 600 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually in the EU by 2030

In the working paper on "Options for Strengthening Natural Carbon Sinks and Reducing Land Use Emissions in the EU", funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, the scientists, together with the Ecologic Institute, also looked at how natural sinks in the EU such as forests, peatland soils and other organic soils, coastal ecosystems such as seagrass beds and grasslands can be stabilised and preserved. "We assessed a variety of options and analysed their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," she says. "It became clear that forests are particularly important in this context; forest conservation, reforestation and expansion are indispensable. The rewetting of peatland soils also plays an important role in reducing emissions from agriculture."

The most important natural carbon sink

In its brief expert report entitled “Natürliche Senken. Die Potenziale natürlicher Ökosysteme zur Vermeidung von Treibhausgasemissionen und Speicherung von Kohlenstoff” (Natural sinks. The potential of natural ecosystems to avoid greenhouse gas emissions and store carbon"), commissioned by the German Energy Agency (dena), the Oeko-Institut addressed the LULUCF sector and its importance for climate change mitigation in Germany. "Forests are currently the most important natural carbon sinks in this country," says Judith Reise. "They store 60 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalents annually – an amount that is, however, expected to decline sharply." Germany's target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045 necessitates that natural carbon sinks be reinforced.

Emissions from the farming sector also need to be reduced greatly. "Today, emissions from the use of arable land and grassland come to more than 40 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalents; that figure must be more than halved." Effective measures identified in the report include rewetting peatland soils and putting an end to peat extraction. "Rewetting 20 per cent of peatlands drained for agriculture alone would save up to 27 tonnes of CO₂-equivalents per hectare by 2030 compared to 2020," she says. "The rewetted land could then be used for paludiculture, for example." Extensive forest use, which is characterised above all by less interventionist management in deciduous forests, or reforestation can also contribute effectively to carbon sequestration. "And of course this would also benefit biodiversity."

Change is the only constant

However, species decline is not always due to human pressures. It can also be a natural development. "Ecosystems are subject to constant change, which also always involves a change in diversity. That’s just natural," says Judith Reise. "But it is no longer acceptable that human interventions continue to be so incredibly severe and that we change the environment in ways that no longer leave room for natural processes." In other words: we need more biodiversity conservation, so that tropical rainforests, European beech forests and even the humble grass snake are strengthened in their occurrence and can continue to develop naturally for many centuries to come.

---

Judith Reise holds a Master of Science in Global Change Ecology and joined the Oeko-Institut's Energy & Climate Division in 2019, where she works on the conservation and restoration of carbon-rich ecosystems and the synergies between biodiversity and climate change mitigation, among other topics.