School Notes: School of the Environment
November/December 2024

Pathways for measuring biodiversity

Pollution, climate change, habitat loss, and exploitation of nature have pushed a million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction. As global leaders look for a way to unify efforts to reach the biodiversity goals set in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a new paper by YSE scientists argues that a single measure for global biodiversity is not workable. 

The paper, published in PNAS and coauthored by Eli Fenichel, Knobloch Family Professor of Natural Resource Economics; Oswald Schmitz, Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology; and Monica Dean of the University of Southern California, calls for a hierarchical system of measuring the economic value of biodiversity that begins with assessing the value of individual species and then aggregating these values to reflect the overall biodiversity of ecosystems. They suggest that diplomacy should focus on a process for starting with a few country-specific species in each nation and a plan to build on that framework.

Interactive map provides local climate opinions in India

India is the most populous country in the world and is among the top ten greenhouse gas emitters, with most emissions stemming from energy production, manufacturing, and agriculture. Yet, there has been little information about the diversity of climate opinions and responses to climate change within the country. A new interactive map by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) at YSE, in collaboration with CVoter, provides the first-ever estimates of public responses to climate change in 34 of India’s 36 states and union territories and 604 districts, depicting the variation in global warming knowledge, beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy preferences across the country at state and local levels. “Understanding local climate opinions is a game changer for policymakers. It allows them to implement effective climate solutions that have strong public support,” said Jennifer Marlon, lead researcher for the opinion maps at the YPCCC.