The Projection of Global and Regional Climate Change Models into Selected Ecosystem Functions and Services (Case Study Czech Republic)

The concept of ecosystem services provides a framework for research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, involving the interaction of the natural environment and human activities. Under changing environmental conditions the ongoing landscape fragmentation, reduction of the size of productive ecosystems and increased competition between ecosystem services are continuously increasing. Although the quality of life depends on the continued provision of ecosystem services, many of them, such as climate regulation or regulation of runoff from a watershed, are non-tradeable and unpriced public goods. Quantifying the reduction in the provision of ecosystem services caused by climate change and ongoing air pollution is necessary in the near future to convince the majority of the human population that, under the precautionary principle, the best mitigation and adaptation measures should be adopted. The aim of this chapter is to present our engagement approach as used in biodiversity valuation, which quantifies selected ecosystem functions (e.g. production) as a basis for valuation of ecosystem services (e.g. provisioning and habitat services) under conditions of climate change. Land use development in the Czech Republic will likely show above all a decrease in arable land while urban and industrial areas increase. The change of arable land into permanent grasslands or forests is recommended to increase carbon sequestration and other water and land protection ecosystem services in the landscape.