The International Society for Microbial Ecology, the Federation of European Microbiological Societies and other scientific institutions have joined forces to encourage industry and policy-makers to make use of microbes to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The scientific community, they say, possesses knowledge and technologies capable of positively impacting climate change, yet progress is hindered by a labyrinth of bureaucratic and financial obstacles—this must change now.
In this call to action, the scientists explain that they are not merely making a plea for awareness about climate change, but a demand for immediate, tangible steps that harness the power of microbiology and the expertise of researchers and policymakers to safeguard our planet for future generations.
Writing in Nature, the scientists say, “The climate crisis is escalating. A multitude of microbe-based solutions have been proposed, but these have not been deployed effectively at scale. These technologies hold great promise, but we need collaborators across different sectors – from industry, funders and policy makers – to coordinate their widespread deployment with the goal of avoiding climate catastrophe.
“This collective call from joint scientific societies, institutions, editors and publishers, requests that the global community and governments take immediate and decisive emergency action, while also proposing a clear and effective framework for deploying these solutions at scale.”
They write, “Microorganisms have a pivotal but often overlooked role in the climate system – they drive the biogeochemical cycles of our planet, are responsible for the emission, capture and transformation of greenhouse gases, and control the fate of carbon in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. From humans to corals, most organisms rely on a microbiome that assists with nutrient acquisition, defence against pathogens and other functions. Climate change can shift this host–microbiome relationship from beneficial to harmful. For example, ongoing global coral bleaching events, where symbiotic host–microbiome relationships are replaced by dysbiotic (that is, pathogenic) interactions, and the consequent mass mortality mean the extinction of these ‘rainforests of the sea’ may be witnessed in this lifetime.
To facilitate the use of microbiome-based approaches and drawing from lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientists advocate for a decentralised yet globally coordinated strategy that cuts through bureaucratic red tape and considers local cultural and societal regulations, culture, expertise and needs. They say, “We are ready to work across sectors to deploy microbiome technologies at scale in the field.”
They also propose that a global science-based climate task force comprising representatives from scientific societies and institutions should be formed to facilitate the deployment of these microbiome technologies.
Read the full article, Microbial solutions must be deployed against climate catastrophe