With climate change we will be forced to emigrate

Ecologist Marten Scheffer

Image - Claudio Álvarez

Plants and animals, including us humans, need thousands, sometimes millions of years to adapt to new environmental conditions. The problem with current climate change is that we are accelerating it, causing what some are already calling the sixth mass extinction.

Many animal and plant species are disappearing and / or at risk of disappearing. By the end of the century, planet Earth will look very different unless something is done to prevent it. Meanwhile, if this continues, ecologist Marten Scheffer, who has received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge award, said in a interview what "with climate change we will need new places to live».

Earth doesn't need us; in fact, if we ever become extinct, the planet will follow. But we do need her, at least until we colonize other planets. Until that happens, we will see how the coral reefs bleach and die as the seas become increasingly acidic, or as the tropical forests run out of species. In this regard, Scheffer explained that trees grow adapting to local conditions, but when these change radically it can have many problems adapting. The adaptive capacity of life is at stake.

You cannot have a tropical forest with less than 1500mm of precipitation per year, but neither can you have it if you continue deforesting and not making adequate use of natural resources. But to produce food for a growing human population, what is being done at the moment is not only deforesting, but also treating plants with synthetic products that damage the soil And, incidentally, they weaken the plants themselves (not to mention the risk to our own health).

Agriculture

In addition to climate change, humanity has to contend in many places with armed conflicts, famine and water scarcity. The biggest challenge will undoubtedly be to relocate many people who migrate in search of a better life on an overpopulated planet.


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