Thirty percent of the earth's carbon is stored in grasslands, mostly in the soil - meaning grasslands are every bit as important as forests and other ecosystems in the fight to reduce atmospheric carbon.
Russel Hobson, Director of Evidence and Policy at Butterfly Conservation writes:
In the run up to COP26, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its unequivocal findings that human activity is responsible for climate warming. We are the cause of widespread and rapid changes to our planet. We will have to take urgent action to reduce carbon dioxide and adapt to at least a 1.5°C increase in temperature.
These stark findings will be followed by further reports in February and March 2022, looking at impacts and mitigation of climate change.
This is why Butterfly Conservation was a founding member of the Grasslands+ campaign. We realise that much of our efforts to recover threatened butterflies and moths also provides nature-based solutions to climate change. Restoring flower-rich grasslands provides multiple benefits, including locking carbon in the soil, reducing flood risk and acting as critical reservoirs for our pollinators, including butterflies, moths and bumblebees.
While species-rich pasture should be at the heart of sustainable and resilient farming systems, in the UK alone we have lost over 97% of our meadows and other species-rich grasslands – more than 7.5 million acres – and they now cover less than 1% of UK land.
Grassland maintenance and restoration are critical to delivering the UK Government’s commitments to net zero emissions, nature’s recovery and sustainable food production. Restoring grasslands will require investment in healthy soils, supporting land managers to raise the organic matter in their soil and, in turn, increase soil carbon.
Farmers and other land managers are among the key stakeholders for unlocking this solution. The link between increasing soil carbon, species conservation and sustainable food production highlights the importance of decisions we make as consumers, especially about the food we buy.
Butterfly Conservation is committed to developing our partnerships across the priority landscapes we have identified. This collaboration will enable us to restore more grassland and associated habitats, allowing threatened species to expand their populations in the coming decade. However, with the predicted temperature increases, we need to better understand the future needs of butterflies and moths. Will they use new parts of the landscape, areas formerly too cold to breed? Will extreme weather events, drought or flooding make other parts of the landscape unsuitable? Will changing land use – new crops, novel management – pose a new threat? These are just a few of the questions that need answering.
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The Grasslands+ campaign was founded by Plantlife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Butterfly Conservation and is supported by organisations and individuals across the conservation sector.