We welcome the correspondence from Watson and Segan [1] for highlighting the fact that there are both direct and indirect impacts of climate change on biodiversity conservation, and that the response of human communities will impact the likelihood of conservation success. Rapid growth in human populations and increasingly variable and severe weather events are increasing demand for natural resources and changing land-use and human settlement patterns. How this plays out across the planet depends on the effectiveness of a broad suite of economic, social, and conservation policies, along with the strength and stability of governance systems at multiple scales.