Impacts of and Adaptation to Climate Change

Abstract

As climate is an important if not the most important natural resource any climate change must have an impact on life in all its forms. Because climate must always change or vary due to changes of external forcing and strongly different timescales of the interacting climate system components, all life forms have developed a capability for adaptation to changes, however, only within certain boundaries of climate change. If these boundaries are surmounted either migration or — in extreme cases — extinction is the result. This statement is valid for all life forms. A key argument in the climate change debate is the high change rate going beyond adaptive capacity for many ecosystems and thus species if mankind continues to grow and emit per capita like in recent decades.