As climate change redistributes terrestrial ecosystems across the globe, the world’s natural capital is expected to decrease, causing a 9% loss of ecosystem services by 2100.
As climate change redistributes terrestrial ecosystems across the globe, the world’s natural capital is expected to decrease, causing a 9% loss of ecosystem services by 2100. That’s according to a study of natural capital published today in the journal Nature led by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
Breathable air, clean water, healthy forests and biodiversity all contribute to people’s well-being in ways that can be very difficult to quantify. “Natural capital” is the concept scientists, economists and policymakers use to represent the current and future flow of benefits the world’s natural resources bring to people.
“The big question is what do we lose when we lose an ecosystem?” said lead author Bernardo Bastien-Olvera, a doctoral student at UC Davis when the study was conducted and currently a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps. “Flipping the question: What do we gain if we are able to limit climate change and avoid some of its impacts on natural systems? This study helps us better consider damages not usually accounted for. It also reveals an overlooked, yet startling dimension of climate change effects on natural systems — its capacity to exacerbate global economic inequality.”
Read More: University of California - Davis
This view of Iztaccíhuatl–Popocatépetl National Park in Mexico represents a biome range shift. (Photo Credit: Armando Vega, CC 4.0)
