Landscape ecology and climate change adaptation: new perspectives in managing the change

Abstract

Managing climate change is considered one of the biggest challenges of the decades to come. Understanding its complex interaction with abiotic, biotic, and socioeconomic systems, as well as its effects on land use, landscapes, or even ecosystem services is an essential basis for the development of effective and efficient adaptation strategies. Landscape ecology is considered one of the disciplines that can provide essential insights into these interactions. The analysis of pattern and processes on landscape level must include assessment methods for existing trends as well as modelling of complex reactions in environmental, social, and economic systems. It can provide essential insight in the links between nature and society and derive the scientific and applied input for the adaptation to climate change. Both gradual as well as abrupt changes will affect landscapes and the services they provide for society. These effects are not only limited to direct changes of climate conditions but will also include indirect effects like changes in hydrological cycles or land use related management. Successful adaptation and management, therefore, needs to be geared towards the maintenance of environmental integrity, the protection against unwanted or even hazardous processes, and the exploitation of beneficial opportunities in response to actual or expected change. Knowledge from landscape ecology can help to guide the process of management from a static equilibrium view to a more adaptive actorsand participation-oriented approach. Two symposia were held at the 8.IALE World Congress from 18 to 23 August 2011 in Beijing, China, to strengthen the transfer of knowledge from landscape ecology into adaptation planning. This special Issue is covering selected contributions from the symposia ‘‘Climate Change Adaptation—New perspectives in managing change in landscape ecology’’ and ‘‘Climate optimized land use—a sustainability strategy between adaption to and mitigation of climate change’’. At the symposia, principles for adaptation to and managing of change were discussed, and it was realised that there is still some ground to cover before common general guidelines can be formulated. In the two mentioned symposia, investigations about key aspects of climate change adaptation in landscape systems were presented. They illustrate some of the current research activities in relation to (1) the investigation of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration problems in the context of landscape and land uses, (2) the development of new methods and models to investigate potential impacts, (3) the assessment of climate change impacts including scenario approaches, and (4) the identification of adequate response options for landscape management.