Resource information
Climate change is both a cause and an
effect of biodiversity change. Along with anthropogenic
dispersion, climate change is the main driver of change in
the geographical distribution of both beneficial and harmful
species, crops, livestock, harvested wild species, pests,
predators and pathogens. And the capacity of ecosystems to
adapt to climate change depends on the diversity of species
they currently support. This paper considers the connection
between climate, biodiversity and ecosystem services. The
impact of climate change on human wellbeing is measured by
the change in ecosystem services caused by climate related
change in biodiversity. Similarly, the role of species
richness and abundance in climate change mitigation or
adaptation is measured by the change in the climate-related
services of biodiversity. The categories of ecosystem
services are those applied in the millennium ecosystem
assessment. The paper first considers how climate and
biodiversity have been linked in recent attempts to link the
two things. From the side of the natural sciences, this
covers the consequences of climate change for various
dimensions of biodiversity. From the side of the social
sciences, it covers the value of biodiversity in the carbon
cycle. It then uses insights from the economic treatment of
the relation between biodiversity and ecosystem services to
re-evaluate the connection between biodiversity and climate
change, and to draw conclusions for climate policy.
