Climate Change The Central
Okanagan Land Trust, as a member of the Land Trust Alliance of BC sponsored
a scientific research paper on “Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change
through the Conservation of Nature.”
The
authors, Dr. Richard J. Hebda and Sara J. Wilson made the following primary
conclusion;
“The
immense stores of carbon in existing ecosystems are of great importance for
both mitigation and adaptation to climate change, especially compared to the
potential of removing atmospheric carbon by planting new forests.
Carbon storage in young forests takes a long time especially in terms of
replacing lost carbon. Second, because there is so little time
to slow global warming the priority should be on preventing carbon losses
and conserving the carbon stores that exist. Third, by protecting
existing ecosystems there will be a wide range of habitat to provide
connecting corridors for plant and animal migration as the climate warms.
Fourth the protection of intact ecosystems provides resiliency for
ecosystems and the communities that depend upon them.
This
report clearly demonstrates that conserving land with healthy natural
ecosystems is a cost effective and important strategy to both mitigate and
adapt to climate change. The report concludes that the conservation of
intact ecosystems for the numerous values and services they bring humans in
addition to providing habitats for wildlife biodiversity and ecosystem
functioning and the health of communities needs to be a significant part of
any climate change strategy for both mitigation and adaptation to changing
climates.”
COLT’s
mandate is to secure land that has greatest biodiversity in the
Central Okanagan