You cannot escape the reality that animals are saving the planet in a precarious state. But did you know that animals have the potential to save us? Here, Professor James Yeates explores the countless ways in which we, by protecting animals, can ensure the future of our planet and all who live on it.
Every day, there is a new story reminding us that our planet is in a terrible state.
The Living Planet 2024 Report by WWF found that monitored wildlife populations have declined on average by 73% between 1970 and 2020¹. 2024 was the hottest year on record globally, with an average temperature over 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels for the first time.²
As COVID fades from memory, we face ongoing threats from avian flu in poultry and farm cows, and the rise of microbes resistant to pharmaceutical products used on farms.
We need a healthy environment, but our relationship with that environment is broken. The future may seem bleak. But we have the power to change things. By protecting animals and their habitats, we can change course.
Here are some fascinating ways in which animals, whether through their inherent instincts or with the help of humans, can improve habitats, ecosystems, the environment, and our lives:
Protecting animals protects ecosystems, essential for climate action
Sea otters restore declining coastal marsh habitats in the U.S.
Sea otters are natural predators of burrowing crabs that would otherwise overgraze the roots and underground stems of marsh plants. Without those plants, the marshes would erode and weaken.
Marshes are vital for both humans and wildlife, providing habitat, food, carbon storage, and coastal protection.
In Monterey Bay, California, the recovery of sea otter populations has led to a notable improvement in marsh stability, an excellent example of how protecting a predator can enhance the health and resilience of an ecosystem under strong human pressures.
Beavers restoring ecosystems and wetlands
In Europe and North America, there has been much discussion about the reintroduction of beavers. These intelligent creatures build dams and networks of watercourses in rivers, which hold significant amounts of water, acting as natural defenses against floods.
Increased rainfall and flooding, often symptoms of climate change, can have devastating consequences for communities, livelihoods, and ecosystems.
Allowing these natural construction workers to contribute is a no-brainer for flood prevention, wetland revival, and thriving biodiversity.
Elephants are natural climate heroes
In dense forests (like tropical rainforests), elephants and other large herbivores reduce competition among young trees and help spread seeds of slow-growing, dense carbon species.
The trees they leave behind after trampling, therefore, are in a stronger position to survive, with better access to water and light, allowing them to grow taller and larger, thus storing more carbon.
In fact, it is estimated that forest elephants in the Congo basin increase above-ground carbon storage by 7 to 14%, simply by feeding, trampling, and excreting!
Sustainable food production: when animal welfare and ecosystems thrive together
Insects pollinators are fundamental to sustain us fed: Three-quarters of the world’s food crops depend on wild pollinators, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
However, bees and insects are threatened by microplastics, light pollution, air and antibiotic pollution, as well as pesticides. In parts of the Global North, populations have already decreased to alarming levels, but it is not too late to rectify this.
Protecting pollinators will not only help our food systems but also people’s livelihoods, particularly in rural areas.
From intensive to regenerative practices: our intensive food and agriculture systems are designed for high performance, maximum productivity, with animal welfare often a low priority.
But by reforming food systems and transitioning to regenerative practices, we are not only helping farm animals live out their instincts but also aiding the land around us. In the Sahel, grazing, characterized by animals raised on extensive pastures and herd movement, plays an essential role in grassland ecosystems.
This traditional practice promotes the nutrient cycle, thus fostering vegetation growth and increasing <
