Interlinkages between Biological Diversity and Climate Change and Advice on the Integration of Biodiversity Considerations into the Implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Its Kyoto Protocol

The present paper was prepared by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change established by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in response to a request of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention. The paper examines the interlinkages between climate change and biological diversity (commonly referred to as biodiversity), and more specifically the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, the potential effects of activities for the mitigation and adaptation to climate change on biodiversity, and the role of biodiversity in mitigating climate change and contributing to adaptation options for climate change. The paper also reviews the approaches and tools such as criteria and indicators, environmental impact assessment, and decision analytic frameworks, that can facilitate the application of scientific advice for the integration of biodiversity considerations into the implementation of measures that might be taken under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol to mitigate or adapt to climate change. The paper concludes with a review of lessons learned from country experiences on harmonization of climate-change-mitigation and adaptation activities and their biodiversity considerations. The paper extends the work in the “IPCC technical paper on climate change and biodiversity”.