ECOSYSTEMS UNDER PRESSURE

The document examines the critical role of ecosystem services in buffering human populations against environmental disturbances and the risks posed by their decline. It highlights how the combination of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land-use change creates 'vulnerability complexes' that disproportionately affect poor and marginalised groups. The brief warns of 'tipping points' that could lead to catastrophic ecological shifts and massive population displacement, estimating that between 24 million and 700 million people could be environmentally displaced in coming decades. It calls for international climate policy to move beyond mitigation to include the monitoring of ecosystem health and the building of resilience to prevent humanitarian crises.

• Healthy ecosystems provide essential services that protect human lives and economies by moderating extreme events; for example, coastal ecosystems like mangroves, coral reefs, and salt marshes can moderate storm surges and extreme waves.
• The economic impact of losing ecosystem services is significant but often underestimated by decision-makers. Specific examples include the Newfoundland cod-fisheries collapse, which cost USD 2 billion and tens of thousands of jobs, and mangrove destruction in Pakistan, which resulted in USD 20 million in fishing losses, USD 1.5 million in feed and pasture losses, and USD 500,000 in timber losses.
• Biodiversity is critical for ecosystem resilience, allowing species to compensate for one another during disturbances. However, human activity has increased species extinction rates by up to 1,000 times the typical background rate, reducing the capacity of ecosystems to cope with change.
• Land-use changes, such as deforestation for cattle and crops, release stored carbon, deplete CO2 sinks, and increase vulnerability to fire by reducing plant evapotranspiration. On a global scale, the transformation of peat and tundra from carbon sinks to greenhouse gas sources could trigger a "runaway climate change" effect, while deforestation in the Amazon Basin may alter rainfall patterns in Southeast Asia and Central Africa.
• Poor and marginalised populations—including women, children, the elderly, and ethnic minorities—are the most vulnerable to ecosystem loss because they often depend directly on these services for their livelihoods. Over 90% of people exposed to disasters live in the developing world.
• Environmental degradation and climate change are expected to drive large-scale population displacement within the next 30–50 years, particularly in coastal zones. Estimates for environmentally displaced people range from 24 million to nearly 700 million, with Bangladesh potentially losing up to a quarter of its surface area to rising sea levels.
• The interaction between ecosystem change and human activity creates 'vulnerability complexes' that can lead to abrupt, irreversible 'tipping points.' Examples include the interaction of overgrazing, wetland loss, and climate change in the Lesotho highlands, or the intersection of urbanization and forest loss with climate change to spawn zoonotic pathogens like SARS and West Nile virus.

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} }