Abstract
Global progress in addressing climate change through mitigation and adaptation has been slow, although policy tools are available and most countries now have some climate change policies. Climate change represents a tragedy of the commons caused by all humans, but one for which the damage is slow to accumulate and cannot be readily identified as coming from a single source. As a result, politicians are slow to act. The UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) has had minor achievements over 21 years, although the recent mitigation decision on REDD+ (reducing emissions from forest degradation and deforestation) recognizes the roles that eliminating deforestation and forest degradation and improving agriculture can play in mitigating climate change. The Cancun Agreement also states that, for mitigation to be effective, adaptation is needed. There is a strong body of literature linking biodiversity to ecosystem resilience and goods and services. Any policies dealing with mitigation and adaptation must consider the important role of biodiversity in terrestrial system recovery and management, including forests, agro-forests, and agricultural systems. In production landscapes, policies need to consider the large landscape scale and be cross-sectoral in application, including among forest, agriculture, transportation, energy, and human health sectors. Finally, local ecological knowledge and scientific information should form the basis for such policies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baker TR, Swaine MD, Bursiem DFRP (2003) Variation in tropical forest growth rates: combined effects of functional group composition and resource availability. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 6:21–36
Balvanera P, Pfisterer AB, Buchmann N, He J-S, Nakashizuka T, Raffaelli D, Schmid B (2006) Quantifying the evidence for biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and services. Ecol Lett 9:1146–1156
Brooker R, Young AC, Watt JD (2007) Climate change and biodiversity: impacts and policy development challenges—a European case study. Inter J Biodiv Sci Manag 3:12–30
Bustamente M, Robledo-Abad C, Harper R, Mbow C, Ravindranat N, Sperling F, Haberl H, Pinto Ade S, Smith P (2014) Co-benefits, trade-offs, barriers and policies for greenhouse gas mitigation in the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector. Glob Change Biol 20:3270–3290
Cardinale BJ, Palmer MA, Collins SL (2002) Species diversity enhances ecosystem functioning through interspecific facilitation. Nature 415:426–429
Cardinale BJ, Ives AR, Inchausti P (2004) Effects of species diversity on the primary productivity of ecosystems: extending our spatial and temporal scales of inference. Oikos 104:437–450
Cardinale BJ, Srivastava DS, Duffy JE, Wright JP, Downing AL, Sankaran M, Jouseau C (2006) Effects of biodiversity on the functioning of trophic groups and ecosystems. Nature 443:989–992
Cardinale BJ, Matulich KL, Hooper DU, Byrnes JE, Duffy E, Damfeldt L, Balvanera P, O’Connor MI, Gonzalez A (2011) The functional role of producer diversity in ecosystems. Am J Bot 98:572–592
Chazdon RL (2003) Tropical forest recovery: legacies of human impact and natural disturbances. Perpsect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 6:51–71
Da Costa WAJM (2010) Adaptation of agricultural crop production to climate change: a policy framework for Sri Lanka. J Nat Sci Found Sri Lanka 38:79–89
Diaz S, Cabido M (2001) Vive la différence: plant functional diversity matters to ecosystem processes. Trends Ecol Evol 16:646–655
Diaz S, Tilman D, Fargione J, Chapin FS, Dirzo R, Kitzberger T, Gemmill B, Zobel M, Vila M, Mitchell C, Wilby A, Daly GC, Galetti M, Laurence MF, Pretty J, Naylor R, Power A, Harvell D, Potts S, Kremen C, Griswold T, Eardley C (2005) Biodiversity regulation of ecosystem services. In: Hassan R, Scholes R, Ash N (eds) Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends, Millennium ecosystem assessment, vol 1. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 299–329
Diaz S, Lavorel S, De Bello F, Quetier F, Grigulis K, Robson TM (2007) Incorporating plant functional diversity effects in ecosystem service assessments. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 104:20684–20689
Easterling WE, Aggarwal PK, Batima P, Brander KM, Erda L, Howden SM, Kirilenko A, Morton J, Soussana J-F, Schmidhuber J, Tubiello FN (2007) Food, fibre and forest products. In: Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van der Linden PJ, Hanson CH (eds) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 273–313
EU (European Union) (2013) An EU budget for low-carbon growth Press Release, Warsaw No. 2013. http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/finance/budget/docs/pr_2012_03_15_en.pdf. Accessed 12 Dec 2014
FAO (2013) Climate change guidelines for forest managers. Fore Paper 172. Rome, Italy
Fischlin A, Ayres M, Karnosky D, Kellomaki S, Louman B, Ong C, Palttner G-K, Santoso H, Thompson I (2009) Future environmental impacts and vulnerabilities. In: Seppala R, Buck A, Katila P (eds) Adaptation of forests and people to climate change: a global assessment report, vol 22. IUFRO World Series, Helsinki, pp 53–100
Gluck P, Rayner J (2009) Governance and policies for adaptation. In: Seppala R, Buck A, Katila P (eds) Adaptation of forests and people to climate change: a global assessment report, vol 22. IUFRO World Sereis, Helsinki, pp 187–210
Griffen JN, O’Gorman EJ, Emmerson MC, Jenkins SR, Klein AM, Loreau M, Symstad A (2009) Biodiversity and the stability of ecosystem functioning. In: Naeem S, Bunker DE, Hector A, Loreau M, Perrings C (eds) Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human well-being. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 78–93
Guariguata MR, Balvanera P (2009) Tropical forest service flows: improving our understanding of the biophysical dimension of ecosystem services. For Ecol Manag 258:1829–1835
Hobbs RJ, Arico S, Aronson J, Baron JS, Bridgewater P, Cramer VA, Epstein PR, Ewel JJ, Klink CA, Lugo AE, Norton D, Ojima D, Richardson DM, Sanderson EW, Valladares F, Vilà M, Zamora R, Zobel M (2006) Novel ecosystems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 15:1–7
Hobbs RJ, Higgs ES, Hall C (2013) Novel ecosystems: intervening in the new world ecological order. Wiley-Blackwell, London
IPCC (Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change) (2007) Climate change 2007. Fourth assessment report. Geneva, Switzerland
IPCC (Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change) (2014) Climate change 2014. Fifth assessment report. Geneva, Switzerland
Kapos V, Kurz WA, Gardner T, Ferreira J, Guariguata M, Koh LP (2012) Impacts of forest and land management on biodiversity and carbon. In: Parrotta JA, Wildburger C, Mansourian S (eds) Understanding relationships between biodiversity, carbon, forests and people: the key to achieving REDD+ objectives, vol 31. IUFRO World Series, Helsinki, pp 53–80
Kelty MJ (2006) The role of species mixtures in plantation forestry. For Ecol Manag 233:195–204
Kremen C (2005) Managing ecosystem services: what do we need to know about their ecology? Ecol Lett 8:468–479
Laliberté E, Tylianakis JM (2010) Deforestation homogenizes tropical parasitoid—host networks. Ecology 91:1740–1747
Laliberté E, Wells J, DeClerck F, Metcalfe D, Catterall C, Queiroz C, Aubin I, Bonser S, Yi D, Fraterrigo J, McNamara S, Morgan J, Merlos D, Vesk P, Mayfield M (2010) Land-use intensification reduces functional redundancy and response diversity in plant communities. Ecol Lett 13:76–86
Lavorel S (1999) Ecological diversity and resilience of Mediterranean vegetation to disturbance. Divers Distrib 5:3–13
Lewis OT (2009) Biodiversity change and ecosystem function in tropical forests. Basic Appl Ecol 10:97–102
Lomborg B (2001) The skeptical environmentalist. Cambridge University Press, London
Loreau M, Naeem S, Inchausti P, Bengtsson J, Grime JP, Hector A, Hooper DU, Huston MA, Raffaelli D, Schmid B, Tilman D, Wardle DA (2001) Ecology—biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294:804–808
Lucier A, Ayres M, Karnosky D, Thompson I (2009) Forest responses and vulnerabilities to recent climate change. In: Seppala R, Buck A, Katila P (eds) Adaptation of forests and people to climate change: a global assessment report, vol 22. IUFRO World Series, Helsinki, pp 29–52
Maass JM, Balvanera P, Castillo A, Daily GC, Mooney HA, Ehrlich P, Quesada M, Miranda A, Jaramillo VJ, Garća-Oliva F, Martínez-Yrizar A, Cotler H, López-Blanco J, Pérez-Jiménez JA, Búrquez A, Tinoco C, Caballos G, Barraza, Ayala R, Sarukhán J (2005) Ecosystem services of tropical dry forests: insights from long-term ecological and social research on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Ecol Soc 10:17. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/art17/
McDermott CL, Coad L, Helfgott A, Schroeder H (2012) Operationalizing social safeguards in REDD+: actors, interests and ideas. Environ Sci Policy 21:63–72
Mittlebach GG, Steiner CF, Scheiner SM, Gross KL, Reynolds HL, Waide RB, Willig MR, Dodson SI, Gough L (2011) What is the relationship between species richness and productivity? Ecology 82:2381–2396
Naustdalslid J (2011) Climate change—the challenge of translating scientific knowledge into action. Int J Sust Dev World Ecol 18:243–252
Parrotta JA, Wildburger C, Mansourian S (2012) Understanding relationships between biodiversity, carbon, forests and people: the key to achieving REDD+ objectives, vol 31. IUFRO World Series, Vienna
Scriven J (2012) Developing REDD plus policies and measures from the bottom-up for the buffer zones of Amazonian protected areas. Environ Dev Sustain 14:745–765
Seppala R, Buck A, Katila P (2009) Adaptation of forests and people to climate change: a global assessment report, vol 22. IUFRO World Series, Helsinki
Steward HL (2009) Fire, ice and paradise. Author House Publishing, online
Stone L, Gabric A, Berman T (1996) Ecosystem resilience, stability, and productivity: seeking a relationship. Amer Natur 148:892–903
Thompson ID, Mackey B, McNulty S, Mosseler A (2009) Forest resilience, biodiversity, and climate change. A synthesis of the biodiversity/resilience/stability relationship in forest ecosystems. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal. Tech Ser no. 43
Thompson ID, Ferreira J, Gardner T, Guariguata M, Koh LP, Okabe K, Pan Y, Schmitt CB, Tylianakis J (2012) Forest biodiversity, carbon and other ecosystem services: realtuionships and impacst of deforestation and forest degradation. In: Parrotta JA, Wildburger C, Mansourian S (eds) Understanding relationships between biodiversity, carbon, forests and people: the key to achieving REDD+ objectives, vol 31. IUFRO World Series, Vienna, pp 21–53
Tylianakis JM, Rand TA, Kahmen A, Klein AM, Buchmann N, Perner J, Tscharntke T (2008) Resource heterogeneity moderates the biodiversity-function relationship in real world ecosystems. PLoS Biol 6(5):e122
van Ruijven J, Berendse F (2010) Diversity enhances community recovery, but not resistance, after drought. J Ecol 98:81–86
van Wilgen BW, Richardson DM, Le Maitre DC, Marais C, Magadlela C (2001) The economic consequences of alien plant invasions: examples of impacts and approaches to sustainable management in South Africa. Environ Dev Sustain 3:145–168
Walker BH (1992) Biological diversity and ecological redundancy. Conserv Biol 6:18–23
Zaccai E, Adams WM (2012) How far are biodiversity loss and climate change similar as policy issues? Environ Dev Sustain 14:557–571
Zhang Q, Niu J, Buyantuyev A, Ding Y, Zhang J, Dong JJ (2011) Productivity-species richness relationship changes from unimodal to positive linear with increasing spatial scale in the Inner Mongolia steppe. Ecol Res 26:649–658
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Thompson, I.D. An overview of the science–policy interface among climate change, biodiversity, and terrestrial land use for production landscapes. J For Res 20, 423–429 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-015-0497-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-015-0497-y