2022/01/20 by Tim Caro, Zeke W. Rowe, Joël Berger +2 · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Psychology · #Species Distribution and Climate Change #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Animal and Plant Science Education
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/conl.12868
openalex publication_date 2022/01/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
Abstract The current perception that climate change is the principal threat to biodiversity is at best premature. Although highly relevant, it detracts focus and effort from the primary threats: habitat destruction and overexploitation. We collated causes of vertebrate extinctions since 1900, threat information for amphibia, birds, and mammals from the IUCN Red List, and scrutinized others’ attempts to compare climate change with commensurate anthropogenic threats. In each analysis, none of the arguments founded on climate change's wide‐ranging effects are as urgent for biodiversity as those for habitat loss and overexploitation. Present conservation efforts must refocus on these issues. Conserving ecosystems by focusing on these major threats not only protects biodiversity but is the only available, economically viable, global strategy to reverse climate change.