ABSTRACT
Climate change poses significant risks and challenges to the security, stability and development capacities of many states around the world. The vulnerability of a state, defined as the degree to which it is likely to experience harm from exposure to climate change-related risks, will depend not only on the nature of climatic changes taking place within its territory, but also on the societal capacities to respond to the challenge. Human populations can be significantly affected by climate change. Most
changes come via the effects of climate change on infrastructure and ecosystems – the ‘green infrastructure’ of our planet. The degree of ecosystem change and degradation resulting from climate change is a key component of state vulnerability, as the many services provided by ecosystems are essential to human well-being in all countries (Reid et al, 2005). Poor people often rely directly on such services for their livelihoods and
basic needs, and the degradation of ecosystems from climate change threatens to exacerbate existing factors undermining development, such as food insecurity and disease. This is one of the reasons why developing countries are considered to be inherently more vulnerable to climate change, in addition to the fact that many of them experience significant financial, administrative and human capacity constraints to adaptation. Changes in the climatic properties of the atmosphere can have direct
impacts on ecosystem structure, composition and functioning. They can also increase the likelihood of natural disturbances, such as wildfires, pest outbreaks and encroachment of invasive alien species (IAS) into previously undisturbed habitats. These processes can have long-term implications for ecosystems, especially where they cross a critical threshold, leading to the transition of the ecosystem to a new state or even to its collapse. In many cases, the resulting changes reduce the capacity of the ecosystem to provide ecosystem services.
