Projections show climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by the mid-21st century.

The analysis was led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and is the largest modelling study of its kind to date.

The researchers compared 13 models for assessing the impact of land-use change and climate change on four distinct biodiversity metrics, as well as on 9 ecosystem services.

Experts said land-use change is considered the largest driver of biodiversity change, according to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

However, scientists are divided over how much biodiversity has changed in past decades.

The authors concluded that assessing impacts of specific strategies on biodiversity helps to identify the most effective policies to safeguard and protect it from the transformations caused by man.

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