Climate change is an urgent issue that requires immediate attention and concrete action. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human activities have led to an unprecedented increase in greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in global warming and climate change. The Paris Agreement, a landmark agreement in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aims to reduce global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In addition, countries around the world have also formulated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) outlining their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Efforts to reduce global carbon emissions are critical to addressing climate change. Many countries have set ambitious targets to reduce their carbon emissions. The European Union has set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. China has committed to peak its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The United States, under the Biden administration, has set a target of zero-net emissions by 2050. Indonesia has launched Indonesia’s Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030 program, a national initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable land use practices and forest conservation. The program is part of Indonesia’s efforts to meet its commitments under The Paris Agreement, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 29% by 2030 (Wijaya et al. 2017).
The negative impacts of climate change have a broad spectrum and affect many aspects of life, including the diversity of flora and fauna. Climate change and other factors such as deforestation, desertification, land use, and poaching threaten biodiversity and wildlife. In 2021, it was reported that many wildlife populations worldwide are declining to the brink of extinction, including at least 1.340 mammals, 1.400 birds, 1.842 reptiles, 2.606 amphibians, and 3.551 species of fish (IUCN Redlist 2022). These disturbances arise due to various after-effects of climate change, such as habitat loss, natural disasters, animal-human conflicts, and extinction threats. Climate change is predicted to threaten the sustainability of species from all over the world. This threat is likely to damage biodiversity as a whole, commonly called biodiversity collapse.
In addition, the rich biodiversity in topical areas is also threatened by other factors, such as biopiracy. Biopiracy can potentially cause endemic species’ extinction, decrease biodiversity, and privatization of organic material in a country. On the other hand, the opportunity to utilize biodiversity through bioprospecting can significantly contribute to environmentally sound development and other commercial benefits. However, strong legislation is needed to regulate this. To address the potential threats to wildlife species diversity posed by climate change, biopiracy, and bioprospecting, various conservation strategies, initiatives, and technological solutions are needed.
Wildlife conservation, with its many challenges, requires prioritization at the ecosystem, species, and population levels. Therefore, we seek to bring together scientists, policymakers, local communities, academic institutions, conservation organizations, practitioners, and all other relevant stakeholders worldwide in an international seminar series entitled “International Symposium on Wildlife Biodiversity Conservation.”