How Whales Change Our World

The planet is facing three interrelated environmental crises, with climate change affecting biodiversity and biodiversity loss contributing to climate change. Whales are important for biodiversity as they control marine animal populations and move around nutrients. And even after they have died, they are a source of nutrients for decades. Also, they contribute to mitigating climate change; directly because they store carbon for centuries and indirectly because their existence allows kelp forests to thrive, which capture a lot of carbon as well. As a consequence, restoring whale populations—which were significantly reduced over the last 1000 years—can move the biodiversity and climate change crises into a positive spiral.