Climate change and pollution are closely connected, and together they hurt plants and animals.

Direct Effects:

• Climate change changes the places where animals and plants live. This can make it hard for them to find food, adapt, or even survive.
• Pollution, like heavy metals and plastic waste, puts harmful substances into the environment. These can directly harm living things and make it harder for them to reproduce.

Combined Impacts:

• The stress from climate change can make the effects of pollution worse. For example, when temperatures rise, it can make pollutants even more harmful to fish and other creatures in the water.
• When habitats are polluted, they become weaker and have a harder time dealing with the changes brought by climate change. This can lead to even bigger losses in the number of different species.

Damage to Habitats:

• Both pollution and climate change damage important habitats. For example, rising sea levels from climate change can drown coastal wetlands, while runoff from farms can cause algae blooms that choke off marine life.

Invasive Species:

• Climate change can create conditions where invasive species thrive. These are plants and animals that don’t belong in a certain area and can harm local species. Pollution can make native species weaker, which makes it easier for invasives to take over.

Policy and Action:

• It’s important to tackle climate change and pollution at the same time to help protect nature. By using methods that address both problems, we can make ecosystems stronger and support the recovery of different species.

Understanding how these issues are connected is essential for creating plans that lessen their harmful effects on our planet's wildlife.