Impacts of climate change on ecosystem services
13 seasonality Wang et al., 2016. In the summer, most
arid and semi-arid regions of China show a negative correlation between temperature and NPP, while in the
spring the correlation may be positive in certain regions. Temperature rise strengthens evapotranspiration and
reduces soil moisture, which can result in drought and can limit growth during the summer. The authors found
that an increase in precipitation is more beneicial to plant growth Hao et al., 2016. Liu et al. 2014 found
that changes in extreme events also afect NPP. A vicious winter storm and extremely low temperatures in early
2008 resulted in a drastic decrease of NPP in forest and grass ecosystems in China’s Hunan province Liu et al.,
2014. Studies related to primary productivity, as with disease and lood regulation and food production, may
indicate that trends and luctuations related to climate change and extreme events have diferent, very locally
speciic, impacts on ecosystem services.
2.4 Example of climate change impact on cultural services
Cultural services comprise a range of largely non- consumptive uses of the environment including the
spiritual, religious, aesthetic, and inspirational wellbeing that people derive from the natural world; the value to
science of an opportunity to study and learn from that world; and the market beneits of recreation and tourism.
Coral reefs ofer an example of potential consequences of climate change for cultural services provided by
ecosystems. Bleaching events in the past three decades have already caused declines in coral across the Great
Barrier Reef Ainsworth et al., 2016. Global warming and ocean acidiication are likely to result in the widespread
loss of coral reefs within a century Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007. Coral reefs are an important draw for tourism and
source of recreation in many coastal countries Hoegh- Guldberg et al., 2007. Lane et al. 2015 conclude that
climate change “could result in a signiicant loss of value associated with the diverse ecosystem services these
habitats provide, including tourism, commercial harvest, and existence i.e. non-use values.” However, the
efects are complex. Tourism itself–including boating, snorkelling and diving–can damage reefs UNEP, 2016
and there is evidence that reefs may have a natural ability to tolerate stress. Ainsworth et al. 2016 conclude:
Our analysis reveals that the exposure to sub-lethal pre-stress events varies dramatically among reefs, with
some having an inherent level of ‘protection from’ or ‘preparedness for’ the conditions that induce coral
bleaching, whereas others experience multiple stress
Field in Burkina Faso.
Photo Credit: Zinta Zommers
Impacts of climate change on ecosystem services
14 exposures in a single event. Recognizing such spatial
variability is important when targeting management actions that aim to mitigate coral reef degradation in the
future.
2.5 Loss and Damage to ecosystem services
It is clear that climate change afects many diferent ecosystem services, sometimes with positive and often
with negative outcomes. To further assess negative impacts, a recent report analyzed discussion of diferent
types of loss and damage in IPCC WG2 AR5 van der Geest and Warner, 2015. The authors assessed how often words
associated with diferent types of impacts occur in one sentence with the words ‘loss’ or ‘damage’. The authors
found that impacts on natural the grey bars and human systems the blue bars receive similar levels of attention
in the AR5 report. Within natural systems, the AR5 report focuses attention on species, habitat, and biodiversity.
Marine ecosystems are discussed more than terrestrial ecosystems. Loss or damage to ecosystem services is not
speciically assessed. AR5 largely frames loss and damage in the context of either natural or human systems rarely
making the link between the two see also Zommers et al., 2014. This relationship between needs to be further
explored.
Figure 2.5.1 Loss and damage to natural vs human systems.
The threshold for inclusion in igure is set at 50. Words used in connection to impacts on human as well as natural systems were excluded from the igure. Source: Van der Geest Warner 2015
Economic Ecosystems
Species Ice
Production Coral
Infrastructure Biodiversity
Food Health
Habitat Crop
Reefs Agriculture
Communities Livelhoods
Human Glacier
Forest Natural
Social Ocean
Buildings People
Urban 50
100
Times the world co-occurs in a sentence with ‘loss’ or ‘ damage’ in IPCC WG2 AR5
150 200
250 300
Human Natural
