Restored ecosystems can help mitigate climate change
At Wicken Fen, a wetland nature reserve in the United Kingdom, over 3,000 acres are being restored. This will help in the battle against climate change by sequestering more carbon.
Photo: Andrew Norman
Ecosystems play a vital role in mitigating the impacts of climate change.
That’s according to the Society for Ecological Restoration International, or SER. In a written statement in mid-2007, this group called attention to the need to protect and restore terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in response to a warming climate.
For example, by restoring forests, peat bogs and wetlands, more carbon can be pulled out of the atmosphere and sequestered in soil and plants. The group also spoke of reconnecting fragmented habitat, to give plants and animals a better chance of migrating in response to climate change.
Earth & Sky spoke with microbiologist Jim Harris, chair of the Science and Policy Working Group of SER. Harris pointed to recent efforts at Wicken Fen, a wetland nature reserve in the United Kingdom, where over 3,000 acres are being restored.
Jim Harris: And that will be a fantastic step foreword. Carbon will start to be sequestered almost immediately. And importantly, that comes with that system being a reservoir of organisms which, when we allow them to develop fully, their trophic webs and interconnections are able to respond to changes locally.
He added that healthier and cooler ecosystems could provide more protection from floods and disease.
SER Position Statement on Climate Change
Imagine a Britain running wild
Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve
Society for Ecological Restoration
Our thanks to:
Professor Jim Harris
Chair
Science and Policy Working Group
Society for Ecological Restoration
Professor of Environmental Technology
Cranfield University
UK
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Untill now,I think we humanbeings cannot help but think any possible way to protect the wild animals.Let’s have a look at what we humanbeings are doing—-waterpollution,air pollution,acumulation of solide wastes.It’s a woeful spectacle.Do the wild animals do something wrong?It’s our humanbeings’ fault.Now I’m not sure if we can save the enviroment begore it is too late.Actully I don’t think we humanbeings have the ability.
Restoring wetlands is soooo important to combat what our profit driven society is doing. Profit is a wonderful thing but not at the coast of entire waterways suffocating under runoff. When we finally learn to prioritize correctly we’ll restore the planets health. Until then we have to battle our legislative bodies every step of the way because they have literally sold out to the highest bidder, and all those guys care about is how rich they are getting. Shameful indeed.