[POST 4] Summary of WA1

First, natural ecosystems control biogeochemical cycles. Global warming is caused by the emissions of excessive greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. Intact natural ecosystems, on the other hand, can reduce the build-up of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Forests, peat lands, oceans and other ecosystems control carbon and other global biogeochemical cycles. For example, ocean can sequester more than 2 gigatonnes of carbon (Turner, Oppenheimer and Wilcove, 2009). The authors of the article also state that if we reduce deforestation and forest degradation rates, global emissions would be slashed by up to 1 gigatonne of carbon a year, which is more than the total amount of emissions of passenger cars (ibid). Furthermore, restoring the world’s marginal and degraded lands to natural habitats will store away around 0.65 gigationnes of carbon a year (ibid). Therefore, preserving natural ecosystems is an effective way to control climate change.
Second, maintenance and restoration of natural habitats may be the safest, easiest and cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gases while it also promotes adaptation to unavoidable changes. Moreover, maintenance and restoration of natural habitats can provide a lot of jobs and it also has considerable potential ability to fight against global warming.
Therefore, an approach which regards climate change as one problem for both human and nature must be come up with.


1. Turner, W.R., Oppenheimer, M., & Wilcove, D.S. (19 Nov. 2009). A force to fight global warming. Nature, Vol 462