Climate Change

IUCN engages on this issue from multiple perspectives, from assessing the risks that climate change poses to biodiversity, to advancing practical nature-based solutions centred on the better conservation, management and restoration of the world’s ecosystems

Home

Did you know ?

Impacts

> 80 %

of ecological processes that form the foundation for life on Earth are impacted by climate change

Solutions

37 %

of the mitigation needed between now and 2030 to meet the 2°C Paris goal can be provided by nature-based solutions

Communities

~ 25 %

of the world’s tropical forest carbon is managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities

How we engage

IUCN assesses the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems. Through its work on ecosystem-based mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction, it also highlights the important role of nature-based solutions to climate change. It also works to ensure that climate policy and action are gender-responsive, socially inclusive and take into account to the needs of the most vulnerable.

Climate impacts
on nature

Nature-based solutions
to climate change

Inclusive
climate action

Section Slider

Photo: UK Government

In the spotlight:
IUCN at the UN Climate Change Conference

From 31 October – 12 November 2021, IUCN will participate in the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP26) in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Read our key messages, browse our latest climate-change related publications and join IUCN events in Glasgow and virtually!

Read More
Pantanal Conservation Area, Brazil Photo: Jose Sabino / Pixabay

In the spotlight:
Climate change now top threat to natural World Heritage

The IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3, published on 2 December 2020, reveals that climate change is now the biggest threat to natural World Heritage and affects a third of sites. The report assesses 63% of sites as either “good” or “good with some concerns”, while 30% are of “significant concern” and 7% are “critical”.

Read More
Photo: © IUCN / University of Oxford

In the spotlight:
Strengthening nature-based solutions in national climate commitments

A report produced by IUCN and Oxford University presents an overview of the current level of ambition for nature within the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Agreement, and highlights what more can be done to harness the full potential of NbS in future NDCs.

Read More

News

Photo: IUCN / freepik.com

What COP26 does for forests and what to look for in 2022
17.12.2021
The Glasgow COP26 Declaration on Forests and Land use, endorsed by 141 countries, stresses the need for transformative steps to move the world onto a sustainable and resilient land-use path – inextricably tying forests and the fight against climate change.
Photo: ©IUCN/Sandeep Sengupta

Twelve days in Glasgow: Impressions of a first time Climate COP experience
14.12.2021
Blog by Claire Warmenbol. Exactly one month ago the COP26 hammer was gaveled. These are my impressions from that climate conference - my first - which I found it to be like no other, both in terms of diversity and calibre of participants as well as in...
Photo: IUCN

They work the land. They protect the land. Does COP26 notice?
22.11.2021
Indigenous peoples and local communities are included in the final version of the 26th session of the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26)’s decision text, a definite success compared to previous years. Direct financing for these groups has also...