Climate and nature synergies: A 30by30 case study

Nature has an essential role to play in helping us to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Our new research supports this, showing the need to address climate change and biodiversity loss together.

Historically, attempts to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change together have been limited.

However, there are now growing calls for governments and international policymakers to treat climate change and biodiversity loss as interconnected. This means recognising that ecosystem degradation is worsening climate change, and that climate change is contributing to ecosystem degradation.

Governments recognised this at the Biodiversity COP16 in October 2024, and agreed to consider a joint work programme on biodiversity and climate change. In November 2025, at the Climate COP30 in Brazil, there’s an opportunity to start to put this into practice by formally discussing cooperation across international organisations.

New analysis by our researchers reiterates why upcoming policy opportunities for climate and biodiversity synergies should be taken advantage of to ensure a future in which both people and planet can thrive.

What we found

In October 2024, we published new analysis by our scientists that evaluated the implementation of the global biodiversity target to conserve 30% of land and waters by 2030, known as 30by30.

This research showed that the global network of protected areas doesn’t contain a lot of the land that actually delivers the most critical ecosystem services. It also doesn’t go far enough in terms of supporting biodiversity in the areas that do deliver these services.

Ecosystem services are provisions from nature that directly and indirectly affect our wellbeing. More than six billion people rely on the top 30% of land that delivers the most critical of these services.

Several of these services have a direct or indirect relationship to climate change, whether that’s flood regulation, cultivating fodder for livestock or maintaining pollinator habitats for crops.

For further detail on this analysis, read our previous policy brief on 30by30.

This tells us that without paying closer attention to the location, quality and effective management of protected areas, we risk losing key ecosystem services valuable for climate mitigation and adaptation. It also underlines the importance of treating action on biodiversity loss and climate change synergistically.

What we’re calling for

Our analysis of how well the world is doing at implementing 30by30 shows the importance of nature- and ecosystem-based approaches to climate action. We need to move to a place where climate and biodiversity are treated synergistically, rather than as separate systems.

To do so, we recommend the following principles:

1. Recognise that the 30by30 target, if implemented in a way that places more attention on ecosystem services, has the capacity to not only stop biodiversity loss but to also deliver climate resilience and better outcomes for people.
2. Ensure ecosystem-based indicators are included in monitoring frameworks for climate policies, such as the Global Goal on Adaptation.
3. Strengthen longer term synergistic action on biodiversity loss and climate change at national and international levels.

Spotlight on Brazil

To coincide with COP30, which will take place in Brazil’s Belém, the gateway to the Amazon, we’re sharing country-level analysis of ecosystems across Brazil, produced using our Biodiversity Intactness Index.

Discover our Biodiversity Intactness Index.

Our analysis shows that Brazil is ranked in the top 50 globally when it comes to countries with the highest average biodiversity intactness. However, it also has one of the highest rates of biodiversity decline. What’s more, just 19.1% of the top 30% of land in Brazil delivering the most critical ecosystem services is currently protected.

You can find specific analysis and maps for Brazil below and in the policy brief.

Note the below resources and any further resources are shared under a CC-BY-NC-SA license.

Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII)	BII in 2000	BII in 2020	BII change
Overall	67.70%	65.48%	-2.22%
Protected areas	90.06%	88.82%	-1.25%
Areas delivering the most critical ecosystem services	65.11%	63.47%	-1.64%
Areas delivering the most critical ecosystem services and located within protected areas	83.49%	82.04%	-1.46%