Most of us have become aware by now that climate change is a reality.

Climate change brings with it the potential for huge social, economic and political upheaval, as rising sea levels, increased drought and floods displace humans, crops and industry. Africa could suffer an additional 182 million deaths in the 21st century as a result of climate change (Christian Aid, 2006). As well as this potential human catastrophe, climate change will be disastrous for wildlife. Changes to the environment are happening so rapidly that many species, particularly those that have evolved to live in very particular habitats, may not be able to adapt quickly enough to survive.

It¹s quite simple really. Take our marine wildlife. There is evidence that warming of UK waters is changing the food web, creating food shortages for certain seabirds. There have been catastrophic breeding seasons in recent years for birds such as kittiwakes and guillemots. Entire colonies did not return to their breeding grounds and those that did struggled to reproduce due to the lack of sandeels.

The amount and location of plankton has changed and the birds and fish whose life cycles evolved over thousands of years to coincide with abundant plankton are starved of food. This disastrous impact on ecosystems around the world is the sort of change that has led scientists to predict that by 2050 a third of all land-based species could be on the pathway to extinction.

One million species could be lost.

Even if greenhouse gas pollution ended today, we would still face climate change up until the 2050s, culminating in a global temperature rise of just under 2C above pre-industrial levels. Without urgent action, this situation could be far worse.

The RSPB is pressing for an 80 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, as the UK¹s share of the cuts needed to avoid devastating climate change. At the same time there can be no compromise on protecting our wildlife and its habitats. Sound Government planning can, and should, prevent damage to the UK¹s wildlife while still achieving the emissions cuts that we need.

In the future the UK will have a much more unpredictable climate with more droughts and floods and longer, drier summers. The RSPB is at the forefront of helping wildlife adapt to the impact of even moderate climate change:

fighting for funding and legal protection of special places; expanding nature reserves; advising farmers, land managers and gardeners on how they can support wildlife; and protecting natural carbon stores through projects on peatlands in Europe and forests in Sumatra and Sierra Leone.

Tackling climate change fully, however, will require big shifts in Government policy. That¹s why the RSPB co-founded Stop Climate Chaos, a coalition of organisations campaigning for government action on climate change. This combination of government-led action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and helping organisations like the RSPB to create the countryside of the future to allow wildlife to adapt to climate change, is what the RSPB believes is urgently needed.

As climate change leads to the disappearance of existing habitats ­ through rising sea levels, for example ­ it is vital that we develop new sites for wildlife. For some species this may mean more hedgerows, ponds or ditches.

For others, larger heathlands, wetlands or grasslands. The RSPB¹s work to create new large-scale habitats is vital in helping wildlife adapt to climate change.

A brilliant example of what needs to be done, and of what can be achieved, is the £12 million restoration by the RSPB of most of Wallasea Island from farmland to wetland. This 1,800 acre corner of Southeast Essex will be transformed into a wildlife paradise of saltmarsh, creeks and mudflats.

Birds such as spoonbills and black-winged stilts, which have struggled to maintain a foothold in the UK, are expected to thrive here. Saltwater fish, which use saltmarshes as nurseries, will also benefit. So, too, will one of our most cherished mammals ­ the otter.

Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB¹s Conservation Director, said: ³Our plans for Wallasea reflect the difficulties climate change will cause but also the RSPB¹s determination to find ways of combating them. We will be providing new sites into which wildlife can move when sea-level rise swallows up existing habitats. We are setting an example for governments to follow. Now it is vital they do so.² The RSPB is working in many ways to secure a countryside in which wildlife can flourish under a future climate. And it is calling upon governments across the world to act so that nature does have a place in the world of our great grandchildren.