Guest lecture by Ioli Christopoulou on climate and biodiversity at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, on November 11, 2021.
Ioli Christopoulou was invited to deliver a guest lecture during the class on “Climate Diplomacy” which is taught by Emmanouella Doussis, Professor of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the NKUA and member of the advisory committee of Green Tank.
Presenting data on the loss of biodiversity, its situation in the European Union and Greece, as well as the performance of the international community in the measures it has taken to protect it, Ioli Christopoulou highlighted the pressure on biodiversity today, which is evolving into an ecological crisis.
Examining the key threats leading to its loss, she focused on the climate crisis as the third hierarchically threat to biodiversity, which is exacerbating the state of nature. In fact, this pressure is expected to intensify as climate change progresses. At the same time, she highlighted how the loss of biodiversity contributes to the climate crisis and the reduction of ecosystem resilience to it.
Essentially, these are two interrelated crises, caused by human activities, and one reinforces the other, while both require urgent solutions.
However, as she emphasized, while biodiversity and climate protection objectives are mutually supportive, the implementation of solutions to one crisis must take into account the consequences for the other, so that the solutions are more effective and not harmful.
A discussion with the students followed Ioli Christopoulou’s presentation.
