Publication of the updated LWEC Biodiversity Climate Change Impacts Report Card
Oct 08, 2015
Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) is pleased to announce the publication of its Biodiversity Climate Change Impacts Report Card. The Report Card provides a comprehensive overview of what is happening now in the UK’s countryside, the extent to which climate change is contributing to those changes, and what we might expect to happen in the future.
The Report Card is aimed at anyone interested in understanding the latest evidence on the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in the UK. The authoritative overview is underpinned by 17 technical topic papers commissioned from leading experts, each of which presents a review of current scientific research and evidence for the impact that climate change is having on land-based and freshwater species, habitats and ecosystems in the UK. It updates the previous version published in 2013 and compliments others in the series on Water and Infrastructure.
Headline findings from the 2015 Report Card include:
- There is strong evidence that climate change is affecting UK biodiversity. Impacts are expected to increase as the magnitude of climate change increases.
- There is evidence of evolutionary responses to climate change in some species but many are unlikely to be able to adapt fast enough to keep pace with climate change
- Some habitats are especially sensitive to climate change; the risks are clearest for upland habitats, wetlands and coastal habitats
- Climate change increases the potential for non-native species introduced by people (including pests and pathogens) to establish and spread.
- If UK biodiversity is going to adapt effectively to climate change we need to improve the resilience of ecosystems across the countryside, not just in protected areas.
The card has been designed primarily to be downloaded as a click-through pdf and is now available on the LWEC website which can be found here. You can also access the technical papers which underpin the card and other relevant information from the website or the click-through document.
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