Chicago Botanic Garden Statement on Climate Change and Plants
The Chicago Botanic Garden believes that climate change is a real threat to plants and is taking action to help flora adapt to a changing climate and to reduce the impact of the changes.
Weather is day-to-day changes in temperature, precipitation, humidity, and cloud cover. Climate is the average for these factors over years.
There is overwhelming consensus within the scientific community that the planet’s climate is changing due in large part to the buildup of greenhouse gases caused by human activity as documented by joint declarations by the National Academies of Sciences for Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, the Caribbean, China, France, Ghana, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, India, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, New Zealand, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) predicts higher temperatures, more intense storms, and changes in precipitation for the world over the next century. The IPCC is a scientific organization established by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.
Scientists and land managers concerned with plant conservation view climate change as one of the top threats to plants, along with invasive species, pollution, habitat fragmentation, and meeting the growing needs of a growing population (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Document, 2005). Plant conservation scientists estimate that more than one-third of the world's plant species (i.e., over 100,000 species) are threatened by extinction by 2050 (e.g., Hawkins, Sharrock, and Havens 2008).
The Chicago Botanic Garden is taking action to help the flora adapt to the changing climate (adaptation strategies) and to help reduce the impact of climate change (mitigation strategies).