The Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change has both environmental and social impacts for the planet. It can have a major impact on society by affecting where people can live, how they can grow their food, how they can remain in good health and how infrastructure is maintained. Climate change affects individual groups of people differently making it an issue that touches on matters of ethics and inequality. Developed countries that are linked to unsustainable consumption patterns and are heavily reliant on fossil fuels have contributed most to the problem of climate change. Developing countries are however the most at risk from the effects of climate change, even though they are the least responsible and least equipped to deal with it. The climate change crisis will however affect everybody in different ways, regardless of location or social and economic status. Global effects from climate change include:

• Rising temperatures equivalent to 1 degrees celsius over the last century

• The melting of glaciers and sea ice

• Sea levels rise

• More extreme weather conditions e.g. stronger rainfall and droughts etc.

Ecosystem Services
WWF 2016 ©

Changes in the atmosphere have a direct impact on ecosystem services, which are in essence services nature provides us that ensures the wellbeing of society. This is because climate change alters the functions of ecological systems such as changes in the timing of weather events and changes in temperatures etc. Ecological systems become ecosystem services once people have benefitted from them. Ecosystem services can be broken down into four types of services that include:

• Provisioning services - these are products provided by ecosystems that include food, fresh water, wood and medicine etc.

• Regulating services- these benefits come from the regulation of ecosystems and include processes such as water purification, pollination, water management, and climate regulation etc.

• Habitat services - ecosystems provide habitats for different species which allow for the maintenance of viable gene pools.

• Cultural services is a direct response felt by humans through the surroundings of nature that may come in the form of spiritual enrichment, recreation or aesthetic values. Many global countries have formed and based their cultures around their surrounding environment.

Climate change has already altered and will continue to alter the provision ecosystem services across the planet. In order to protect ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling in soil and crop production etc., adaptive measures to the impact of climate change, must be put in place that protect the functions and services they provide. For further information on ecosystem services please view the EURAC research video here.

Please see the Environmental Protection Agencies website to view videos on the global and local effects of climate change. Supplementary student exercises and lesson plans are provided.