ECOSYSTEMS UNDER PRESSURE

This policy brief from the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the critical role of ecosystem services in buffering human populations against climate change and the risks associated with the loss of ecological resilience. It highlights how environmental degradation, combined with climate stressors, increases human vulnerability—particularly for poor and marginalised groups—and may trigger large-scale forced migration and humanitarian crises.

• Ecosystem services provide essential functions that protect human life and support economies, including water and air purification, flood and erosion control, and the moderation of storm surges and extreme waves through healthy coastal ecosystems like salt marshes, coral reefs, and mangrove forests.
• The economic impact of losing ecosystem services is significant; for example, mangrove destruction in Pakistan is estimated to cost USD 20 million in fishing losses, USD 500,000 in timber losses, and USD 1.5 million in feed and pasture losses, while the Newfoundland cod-fisheries collapse is estimated at USD 2 billion and tens of thousands of jobs.
• Climate change, land-use change, and pollution are reducing ecosystem resilience. Biodiversity is critical for this resilience as it allows species to compensate for one another during disturbances, but human activity has increased species extinction rates by up to 1,000 times the typical background rate.
• Deforestation and land-use change can trigger global climate effects. Clearing forests releases stored carbon and reduces the CO2 sink; specifically, deforesting the Amazon Basin is suggested to change atmospheric circulation patterns in the Western Hemisphere and rainfall patterns in Southeast Asia and Central Africa.
• Poor and marginalised populations are disproportionately vulnerable to ecosystem loss. Over 90% of people exposed to disasters live in the developing world, and more than half of disaster deaths occur in countries with a low Human Development Index. Vulnerable groups include women, children, the elderly, ethnic and religious minorities, and those in marginal livelihoods like fishermen and farm labourers.
• Environmental change and climate stressors are expected to drive large-scale population displacement within the next 30–50 years, particularly in coastal zones. Estimates for environmentally displaced people in coming decades range from 24 million to almost 700 million. Bangladesh may lose up to a quarter of its surface area to rising sea levels.
• Ecological systems can reach 'tipping points' where cumulative stresses lead to rapid, irreversible negative changes or catastrophic shifts, such as the loss of coral reefs. These can be part of 'vulnerability complexes' where ecosystem change and human activity interact, such as in the Lesotho highlands where overgrazing, wetland loss, and climate change create feedback loops of increased vulnerability.

APA

Galaz, V., Moberg, F., Downing, T. E., Thomalla, F., & Warner, K. (2008). ECOSYSTEMS UNDER PRESSURE. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/ecosystems_under_pressure.pdf

Chicago

Galaz, Victor, Fredrik Moberg, Thomas E. Downing, Frank Thomalla, and Koko Warner. ECOSYSTEMS UNDER PRESSURE. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2008. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/ecosystems_under_pressure.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Galaz |first1=Victor |last2=Moberg |first2=Fredrik |last3=Downing |first3=Thomas E. |last4=Thomalla |first4=Frank |last5=Warner |first5=Koko |title=ECOSYSTEMS UNDER PRESSURE |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2008 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/ecosystems_under_pressure.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{galaz2008ecosystems, author = {Galaz, Victor and Moberg, Fredrik and Downing, Thomas E. and Thomalla, Frank and Warner, Koko}, title = {{ECOSYSTEMS UNDER PRESSURE}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2008}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/ecosystems_under_pressure.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }