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BioDiv-support
Scenario-based decision support for policy planning and adaptation to future changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services
Biodiversity includes variation between species, as within species and habitats on Earth. Among the greatest threats to biodiversity are climate change, destruction of habitats and other human activities. High-altitude mountain regions are one of our most pristine environments, often with historically small impacts from air pollution, but at risk of being disproportionately impacted by climate change. We focus on three mountainous regions: the Scandinavian Mountains, the Guadarrama Mountains in Spain, and the Pyrenees in France, Andorra and Spain. We will study the impact of drivers of change of biodiversity such as future climate change, increased incidences of wild fires, emissions from new shipping routes in the Arctic as ice sheets are melting, human impacts on land use and management practices (such as reindeer grazing) and air pollution.
The aim of this project is to develop future scenarios of biodiversity and ecosystem services for decision-makers and other end users to enable enlightened decisions for adaptation and policy on local and regional scales. The project will focus on changes to vegetation, including for example changes to the forest and tree line, and the impact on and of grazing and wild fires, as well as other indicators and services. The scenarios will represent possible trajectories until the 2050s.