A Water Story

All life, including forest life, needs water. Forest life needs water to grow and sustain itself.  When we alter the relationship between forest life and water, we cause water and forest life to leave the home. A home with less water and forest life in and around it is drier, weaker, and has more death. Such a Home is more likely to catch on fire, releasing suffering.

Biodiversity  depends on healthy water systems. When water thrives, so does the  Wabasca Wood Buffalo herd and the plants, trees, and animals that  sustain it. Protecting forests helps the land hold more water—keeping  the ground and air cooler, restoring balance, and reducing stress during  dry periods.

Mature  trees, thriving soils, and diverse species create a natural cycle of  support. Birds and insects keep harmful pests like the spruce budworm in  check, while healthy trees reduce wildfire risk by limiting dry wood  buildup. These are nature-based solutions—where people and nature work  together to build resilient ecosystems and a stronger future for all  life on the land.

Only by considering climate and biodiversity as parts of the same complex problem, which also includes the actions and motivations and aspirations of people, can solutions be developed that avoid maladaptation and maximize the beneficial outcomes. Seeking such solutions is important if society wants to protect development gains and expedite the move towards a more sustainable, healthy and equitable world for all. 

Conservation actions intended to halt, slow or reverse biodiversity loss can simultaneously slow anthropogenic climate change significantly. The conservation actions with the largest potential for mitigating climate change include avoided deforestation and ecosystem restoration (especially of high carbon ecosystems such as forests - such as the range for the Wabasca Wood Buffalo herd). The evidence suggests that conservation actions have, on balance, more mutually synergistic benefits than antagonistic trade-offs with respect to contributions regulating the climate system. Synergies between biodiversity, climate change mitigation, other nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life are seldom fully quantified and integrated, and the evidence base for assessing these could be strengthened if this were done more routinely. 

Joint scientific report from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) workshop.