1.3 Sustainability and climate change, biodiversity and poverty

Climate change and sustainable development is explored by the Sustainable Development Network. The Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems Committee Newsletter reviews diverse legal and policy issues related to climate change reflecting the range and complexity of the intersections between climate change, sustainable development and ecosystems.

Biodiversity and sustainable development is explored in the following papers from Green Facts (a non-profit organisation that aims to bring complex scientific consensus reports on health and the environment to the reach of non-specialists):

Green Facts – Biodiversity: what is it, where is it, and why is it important?

Green Facts – Why is biodiversity loss a concern?

Green Facts – What factors lead to biodiversity loss?

Other web-based sources:

UK government report from Defra – ‘Targeted monitoring of air pollution and climate change impacts on biodiversity – Final Report’

European Environment Agency’s report on ‘Biodiversity loss and climate change: the need for an ecosystem approach’

The European Commission GREENSENSE project considered the impacts of air pollution, climate change, biodiversity, resource depletion, toxic substances, urban environmental problems, waste and water pollution.

Climate change and poverty are explored in the following papers:

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation explores the impact of climate change on poverty in the UK in its paper ‘Climate change and poverty’. The Climate Change and Poverty Programme supports the development of socially just responses to climate change in the UK.

This briefing paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute’s Poverty and Vulnerability Programme explores the question ‘What is the connection between scale and food system scenarios?’

The Climate Change Knowledge Network paper ‘Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change’ also considers the relationships between poverty, vulnerability and climate change.

Finally, a good website to visit for information on this topic is Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS).