New SEI event series addresses the climate and biodiversity crises
The Sydney Environment Institute is pleased to announce its new panel series, Climate and Biodiversity Crises Series, aiming to address the interconnected challenges of climate change and nature damage.
The biodiversity crisis is intricately linked to the climate crisis, and efforts to mitigate climate change must not harm nature in the process. In fact, repairing nature is a critical way of mitigating climate change. The panel series features experts from academia, government, business, and community, to explore how policies, business decision-making, and adaptation strategies can address both crises simultaneously.
The series will feature four panels throughout the year, with the inaugural panel, We can’t save the climate by destroying nature, being held during Climate Action Week (May 2024) in partnership with the Australian Conservation Foundation.
The panel will be chaired by Acting SEI Director, Professor Danielle Celermajer, and feature guest speakers Basha Stasak, Nature Campaign Manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Dr Mitchell Gibbs, an expert on restoring biodiversity using First Nations knowledge, and Guy Williams, Executive Director at Pollination Group working on nature positive solutions.
Professor Celermajer notes: “It’s no coincidence that we are facing these twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. Right now, the forms of human life dominating the planet are catalysing negative feedback loops between climate and biodiversity. We need to bring our human ingenuity to restoring positive feedback loops so all life can flourish.”
This panel will highlight the critical interconnections between these two global challenges and advocate for a unified approach to address them. Panellists will discuss the importance of protecting biodiversity as a means to mitigate climate change while acknowledging the threats climate change poses to biodiversity.
“Healthy forest, soil and water systems and well-functioning ecological systems not only depend on a stable climate, they are critical to sustaining one. So, while reducing carbon emissions is absolutely critical, we must also dedicate ourselves to repairing the biophysical systems of life that can be our allies in this challenge of stabilising climate,” said Professor Celermajer.
This panel series speaks to the efforts people across sectors are making and must make to foster collaboration and envision a nature-positive future in which both climate and biodiversity crises are comprehensively addressed.
SEI invites audiences to participate in these crucial conversations and contribute to shaping a thriving future for our planet. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter as more information about the upcoming panels are released.
Upcoming panels
Hear from leading voices as they explore the intersection of the climate and biodiversity crises and share how we can achieve a unified approach to planetary challenges. Register here.
The panel will explore how prioritising nature-based solutions and embracing concepts of multispecies justice can address housing shortages, urban heat challenges, and environmental mismanagement in expanding urban spaces.
Panellists will discuss the moral implications of defining Earth's resources as 'natural capital' and the effectiveness of market mechanisms in addressing the biodiversity crisis.
The panel will discuss the potential of nature-based solutions such as wetlands and mangroves to act as climate buffer infrastructure, sharing insights from SEI's project on climate buffer projects in the Philippines and exploring how to address justice and biodiversity issues alongside climate adaptation solutions.
Header image: By Chris Mirek Freeman, Shutterstock ID: 1398816113.