UNEP-WCMC Launches
New Website on Carbon,
Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services
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UNEP-WCMC, with support from BfN, has launched a website, which explores the co-benefits arising from climate change mitigation and related to biodiversity conservation. The new website highlights the potential for actions on reducing emissions from land use change in order to secure additional important benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services (co-benefits). The site showcases UNEP-WCMC’s recent work with in-country partners on developing such analyses and includes an interactive mapping tool. The tool has been developed in partnership with CBD LifeWeb and allows users to explore spatial relationships between carbon and co-benefits. |
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More specifically, the tool provides interactive maps that can be used to visualise the distribution of carbon density relative to areas high in biodiversity and areas which are nationally protected for different countries around the world. Users can view layers, show or hide layer content, as well as see how the distribution of carbon and biodiversity relates to other geographical features such as rivers, coastlines, and international boundaries. The countries currently included in the tool are Honduras, Tanzania and a Chinese province. Additional data for other countries will be incorporated shortly.
The rationale for developing this website is the fact that maintaining natural carbon stocks can generate co-benefits, benefits that are additional to climate change mitigation effects. Ecosystem co-benefits, which include biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, derive directly from maintaining natural ecosystems. Other co-benefits derive from the mechanisms used and the social and political changes needed to implement them, such as clarification of land tenure and enhanced participation in decision making. These are sometimes termed 'social' co-benefits. The types, mixture and scale of co-benefits vary between approaches and locations.
The main issues presented at the website are carbon storage, biodiversity, ecosystem services, protected areas, policy context and CBD’s REDD +Programme.
Source: Convention on Biological Diversity; http://www.carbon-biodiversity.net/.