Ice will return but extinctions can't be reversed. We must act now

We have to develop digital forecasts of species’ responses to climate change, design robust strategies to protect as many as possible, and help nature to adapt

Each day increasingly dangerous hurricanes, wildfires, and floods betray the influence of climate change. We are appalled at the accruing losses of life and property. The arguments to address climate change at the recent UN climate conference in Bonn focused most often on these more concrete risks. However, the worst effects of climate change will come not from severe weather but from the irreversible loss of species and ecosystems.

Moulded over millions of years by natural selection, the diversity of species on Earth does more than just inspire awe. They are technical marvels and solutions to problems we do not yet know exist.

Related: Red list: thousands of species at risk of extinction due to human activity

Rising heat is pushing pikas to the top of the mountain, where they have nowhere else to go. They can’t climb sky

Related: ‘Devastated’: scientists too late to captive breed mammal lost to climate change

Related: Tim Flach's endangered species – in pictures