I am excited to announce the publication of Keskitalo and Preston's Research Handbook on Climate Change Adaptation Policy (Edward Elgar Publishing). https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/research-handbook-on-climate-change-adaptation- policy
Sophia Chau and I coauthored the chapter on "Adaptation of Ecosystems in the Anthropocene." I am pasting the introduction to the chapter below. All the best, Debra INTRODUCTION: THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON ECOSYSTEMS The impacts of climate change on ecosystems are severe and often irreversible, already threatening one in six known species (Urban 2015). Hundreds of species have begun shifting their ranges toward the poles or higher elevations, and spring events are happening earlier and earlier (Parmesan and Yohe 2003). Shifts in species abundance, distribution, and interactions are also altering ecosystems and the services upon which humans depend (Walther et al. 2002). The growing scientific consensus is that we have entered the Anthropocene: a new geologic era characterized by human impacts and a related "Sixth Extinction" (Ceballos et al. 2015). Current extinction rates are now 1000 times higher than natural background rates of extinction, and future rates are likely to be 10 000 times higher (De Vos et al. 2015). We know how to stem this mass extinction: ceasing greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this knowledge, an influential industry-sponsored movement dedicated to climate denial persistently obstructs efforts to reduce emissions, aided by the recalcitrance of high-emitting countries and the desire of developing countries to claim their fair share of emissions (Oreskes and Conway 2010; Jamieson 2014). Even the most optimistic scientific assessments project continued emissions, "committed warming" from the greenhouse gases already emitted, and the destruction of species and ecosystems (Sala et al. 2000; Friedlingstein et al. 2014; Strauss et al. 2015). Other human drivers of biodiversity loss compound the problem, including habitat fragmentation and destruction, pollution, invasive species, desertification, and widespread resource depletion. Minimizing these other threats can reduce ecological damage (Fischlin et al. 2007). However, evidence suggests that even the minimization of non-climate stressors may have little impact on biodiversity loss and ecosystem dysfunction relative to the enormity of the climate challenge. Some fortunate species can adapt on their own to the changing climate through evolutionary adaptation (Hoffmann and Sgro 2011), but many others have limited adaptive capacity (Parry et al. 2007). Urban development, agriculture, and deforestation block potential migration routes, and species and communities already residing on mountaintops or in the Arctic have no cooler alternative as the climate warms. When combined with high exposure and sensitivity to climate change impacts, limited adaptive capacity makes species and their associated ecosystems vulnerable. Due to the scale and rate of climate change impacts, many species will not be able to keep pace with the change through evolutionary adaptation. Future biodiversity may therefore depend on whether there are non-evolutionary forms of adaptation for vulnerable species and ecosystems. Can we save species and ecosystems in a climate-changed world? Are there anthropogenic solutions to anthropogenic problems? In this chapter, we search for answers to these questions by reviewing the literature on natural system adaptations to a changing climate. Adaptation of natural systems involves deliberate actions by humans to reduce the vulnerability to climate change of non-human organisms, populations, and communities, and to preserve interactions among living organisms and the physical and chemical components of the environment. We evaluate the promise of traditional conservation practices that are increasingly being enhanced in response to climate change, as well as novel strategies invented to address the unprecedented rate and scale of modern climate change. We find that the outlook for adaptation is bleak, and that the drastic global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, however unlikely, is the biosphere's best and only defense. ***** Debra Javeline Associate Professor | Department of Political Science | University of Notre Dame | 2060 Jenkins Nanovic Halls | Notre Dame, IN 46556 | tel: <tel:(574)%20631-2793> 574-631-2793 Fellow, <http://kroc.nd.edu/> Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, <http://nd.edu/~kellogg/> Kellogg Institute for International Studies, <http://nanovic.nd.edu/> Nanovic Institute for European Studies Core faculty, <http://germanandrussian.nd.edu/russian/faculty/program-faculty/RussianandEa stEuropeanStudies.shtml> Russian and East European Studies Program Affiliated faculty, <http://environmentalchange.nd.edu/> Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
