The major direct anthropogenic drivers – natural resource extraction, land-use change, pollution, climate change and invasive alien species – all strongly impact on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people in Europe and Central Asia, posing substantial risks for nature and human well-being . The belief that further GDP growth will facilitate sustainable development is a deeply rooted cultural driver, especially evident in Western and Central Europe, calling for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth. However, this requires an absolute decoupling between GDP growth and degradation of biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people which has not generally been observed. Demography as an indirect driver varies significantly between the subregions, with a dramatic population decrease projected for Central Europe. Urban development will continue to affect natural and semi-natural rural land in large parts of Europe and Central Asia. Conventional intensification of agriculture and forestry has resulted in habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation and has negative impacts on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people. Abandonment of intensively managed agricultural land has been widespread across Europe and Central Asiawell established). However, a comprehensive assessment of the effects of this process on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people is limited by knowledge gaps. Abandonment of extensively managed traditional land-use systems, and loss of associated indigenous and local knowledge and practices, has been widespread in Europe and Central Asia. Cessation of traditional land use has led to loss of semi-natural habitats which support biodiversity of high conservation value. Protected areas have enormous importance for biodiversity conservation, and the area under protection has been constantly expanding during recent decades across the region. Within the present institutional framework, fishing, hunting, and mining pose considerable threats to biodiversity. Depletion of local mineral and fish stocks are disguised by global trade, which delays effective responses, and harmful subsidies exacerbating unsustainable extraction levels. Despite effective regulations for some forms of pollution, this direct driver still poses major threats to biodiversity, nature’s contributions to people and human health (well established). The drivers of pollution are mainly economic, i.e. effects of industrialization and globalization, including conventional intensive agriculture and increases in transportation.There is strong evidence that the climate of Europe and Central Asia is changing towards warmer temperatures and regionally changed precipitation, with generally drier summers in the southern and wetter winters in the northern parts of the region and increasing risk and amplitude of extreme climatic events such as droughts and storms. Evidence is emerging that indirect climate change effects, such as increased fire and flood risks and loss of permafrost are affecting biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people in Europe and Central Asia. Invasive alien species have increased in number and for all taxonomic groups across all subregions of Europe and Central Asia and this has severe effects on biodiversity and nature’s contribution to people. For Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the rate of invasion has been less severe than in Western and Central Europe, but is expected to increase at a rate that strongly depends on GDP development. In addition to immediate effects, the individual and combined effects of natural resource extraction, landuse change, climate change, diffuse pollution and invasive alien species can have chronic, prolonged and delayed impacts on biodiversity and the provision of nature’s contributions to people, due to considerable time-lags in the response of ecological systems (e.g. extinction debt, colonization time-lags)
Chapter 4: Direct and indirect drivers of change in biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.
Luzzati T.;
2018-01-01
Abstract
The major direct anthropogenic drivers – natural resource extraction, land-use change, pollution, climate change and invasive alien species – all strongly impact on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people in Europe and Central Asia, posing substantial risks for nature and human well-being . The belief that further GDP growth will facilitate sustainable development is a deeply rooted cultural driver, especially evident in Western and Central Europe, calling for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth. However, this requires an absolute decoupling between GDP growth and degradation of biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people which has not generally been observed. Demography as an indirect driver varies significantly between the subregions, with a dramatic population decrease projected for Central Europe. Urban development will continue to affect natural and semi-natural rural land in large parts of Europe and Central Asia. Conventional intensification of agriculture and forestry has resulted in habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation and has negative impacts on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people. Abandonment of intensively managed agricultural land has been widespread across Europe and Central Asiawell established). However, a comprehensive assessment of the effects of this process on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people is limited by knowledge gaps. Abandonment of extensively managed traditional land-use systems, and loss of associated indigenous and local knowledge and practices, has been widespread in Europe and Central Asia. Cessation of traditional land use has led to loss of semi-natural habitats which support biodiversity of high conservation value. Protected areas have enormous importance for biodiversity conservation, and the area under protection has been constantly expanding during recent decades across the region. Within the present institutional framework, fishing, hunting, and mining pose considerable threats to biodiversity. Depletion of local mineral and fish stocks are disguised by global trade, which delays effective responses, and harmful subsidies exacerbating unsustainable extraction levels. Despite effective regulations for some forms of pollution, this direct driver still poses major threats to biodiversity, nature’s contributions to people and human health (well established). The drivers of pollution are mainly economic, i.e. effects of industrialization and globalization, including conventional intensive agriculture and increases in transportation.There is strong evidence that the climate of Europe and Central Asia is changing towards warmer temperatures and regionally changed precipitation, with generally drier summers in the southern and wetter winters in the northern parts of the region and increasing risk and amplitude of extreme climatic events such as droughts and storms. Evidence is emerging that indirect climate change effects, such as increased fire and flood risks and loss of permafrost are affecting biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people in Europe and Central Asia. Invasive alien species have increased in number and for all taxonomic groups across all subregions of Europe and Central Asia and this has severe effects on biodiversity and nature’s contribution to people. For Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the rate of invasion has been less severe than in Western and Central Europe, but is expected to increase at a rate that strongly depends on GDP development. In addition to immediate effects, the individual and combined effects of natural resource extraction, landuse change, climate change, diffuse pollution and invasive alien species can have chronic, prolonged and delayed impacts on biodiversity and the provision of nature’s contributions to people, due to considerable time-lags in the response of ecological systems (e.g. extinction debt, colonization time-lags)I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
