Rio Conventions Pavilion, CBD COP11 (11/10/2012) – Peter Pueschel, Programme Director of IFAW, describes the massive impact climate change is having on animals across the globe and what can be done to protect endangered species.

According to Pueschel, increasingly frequent droughts, floods and extreme weather events caused by climate change are having just as serious an impact on animals as it has been having on humans.

Pueschel argues that the change in patterns of migration right through to the transformation of entire ecosystems will cause serious issue for human communities in the very near future.

Pueschel describes that if done in the right way, tourism can improve the situation for endangered species by making their protection more economically viable and by increasing respect for these animals. However in certain cases where species are critically endangered, such as tigers, he thinks that restriction of tourism may be appropriate.

Pueschel asserts that all politicians must consider animal welfare a serious issue for progress to be made on environmental issues. He argues that without respect for individual animals, we cannot hope to protect whole ecosystems.