SCGA State of the World: Climate Change & Biodiversity Loss

Organisers: The Scottish Council on Global Affairs, Scotland Beyond Net Zero and the Edinburgh Earth Initiative

The planet is heating up, largely due to human activity. This is changing the water cycle, leading to rising sea levels and altering weather patterns. Meanwhile, industrial agriculture, infrastructure development, pollution, habitat destruction, overhunting, disturbance and disease have drastic, rapid impacts on biodiversity.

Species of mammals, birds and reptiles are mostly declining in range and numbers across the globe. We have very scant data on the loss of insects, fish and soil fauna, even though most food production relies on them, but losses in these groups seem possibly even higher. As on land, as in the ocean: warming, acidification and oxygen loss combine with overfishing and pollution to compromise ocean health and drive biodiversity loss.

These crises have huge implications for Scotland, from the risks to food security caused by changing weather and ocean circulation patterns and biodiversity loss, to the collapse of the ecosystems that make the country what it is. Scotland has already lost more of its biodiversity than almost any other European country. Furthermore, locally and globally, the consequences of these ecological crises are not felt equally, with those who have done least to cause these problems harmed first and worst, and so justice should be at the heart of our response.

This would be testing at any time, but we have entered an era of much more nakedly transactional global politics, making effective and just action even more challenging. This panel brings together experts in the fields of climate change and biodiversity loss to discuss these ecological and political challenges, how they impact people and nature in Scotland, and what actors in Scotland can do in response.

The panel is comprised of five leading Scotland-based experts:

Professor Kate Abernethy (University of Stirling)

Kate specialises in the biodiversity and climate resilience of the Congo Basin forests. She is a member of the Science Panel for the Congo Basin, the UK Darwin Expert Committee and the IUCN Species Survival Commission, amongst other posts, and was awarded the British Ecological Society President’s Medal in 2023.

Professor David Burslem (University of Aberdeen)

David is Professor of Forest Ecology and Diversity at the University of Aberdeen and is Director of the University’s Inter-disciplinary Centre for Environment and Biodiversity. David has 30 years of experience in forest research in the UK and overseas and has authored or edited more than 150 papers and two books.

Dr Sian Henley (University of Edinburgh)

Sian is a Reader in Marine Science with expertise in polar ocean biogeochemistry and marine ecosystem change in both the Arctic and Southern Oceans, with a focus on the impacts of climate change on the world’s people. Sian serves as Co-Chair of the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS).

Professor Patrick Bayer (University of Glasgow)

Patrick specialises in the political economy of environmental regulation and climate politics, with a focus on how markets and politics shape societal responses by governments, companies, and individuals to climate change and the global energy transition. He has recently been appointed to the advisory panel of the Scottish Government's Centre of Expertise on Climate Change.

Professor Tahseen Jafry (Glasgow Caledonian University)

Tahseen specialises in climate justice at Glasgow Caledonian University. A qualified engineer and social scientist, she has over 30 years research experience globally covering the justice and equity aspects of climate change, gender and poverty targeting, climate finance, the management of natural resources, just transition and the psycho-social impacts of climate change.

The event will be chaired by Professor Claire Duncanson (University of Edinburgh and Scottish Council on Global Affairs)

The roundtable is open to the public, and we welcome students and the local community to attend.

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Host or Publisher Scottish Council on Global Affairs