Recently, a study published on Nature Climate Change shows that our animal friends contribute to limiting the advance of global warming. By living on Earth, by eating or even by doing their needs, they are of considerable help to us since they promote the capture of carbon. Certain species play a key role in hopes of meeting the 1.5° warming objective.
Certain families of animals are certainly endangered, but their recovery is near. This could contribute to the capture of 6.41 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
In 2015, the Paris COP set the goal of removing 500 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2100. Our wildlife friends are therefore significant assets. In the study conducted by Nature Climate Change, Yale professor Oswald Schmitz explains that “wild animals represent only 0.3% of the carbon contained in the global biomass, and are therefore generally neglected in carbon accounting”. In other words, they fight against climate change while risking their disappearance.
Constantly endangered by various man-made or natural disasters, fish are also major collaborators in this fight. They would be the largest contributors to carbon storage with 5.5 gigatonnes annually. If they were to disappear, it would lead to a loss of 7% of carbon storage according to an article published by Les Echos.
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