Our mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature, and ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Our work has indicated that addressing the problem of climate change is directly related to this mission. Progress since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit has been good but slow. The global climate is still very much threatened and we continue to see a net loss in quality of life and environmental degradation in many parts of the world. Pollution and unsustainable management practices already threaten the life support systems upon which humanity depends.
Climate change is an important additional stress.
In the face of climate change, the loss of species and ecosystems will likely accelerate. Many species will be made more vulnerable to extinction, and important ecosystems, such as wetlands and coral reefs, could be eliminated in some places. Communities that are currently struggling to improve their livelihoods will be made even more vulnerable by climate change. Measures to protect the species, ecosystems and the goods and services they provide to society may be rendered ineffective by climate change. Future generations will judge us on our timidity in the global struggles to combat climate change, to avoid biodiversity loss, and to halt desertification.