Ecosystem service assessments in climate adaptation

Ecosystem services is Nature’s contribution to human well-beingby providing provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. A direct driver affecting availability of ecosystem services is climate change. This is a challenge that needs to be addressed. A possible strategy to cope with these challenges is the use of Ecosystem-based adaptation, defined by Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversityas “the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as a part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change”. In this paper a literature review was conducted to highlight the current use of ecosystem services in relation to coping with climate adaptation. Investigated parameters was I) geographical area and sector; II) aim of article; III) methodological approach; and IV) lessons learned by the authors of the reviewed articles regarding method used and lessons learned by the authors of the reviewed articles regarding implementing EbA. The diversity among methods of ecosystem service assessment used in the reviewed articles indicate that there are many possibilities of assessing ecosystem services and communicating impacts from climate change. A combination of methods was also seen as beneficial to assist decision-makers and planners in climate adaptation decisions. This paper put forward useful knowledge for future ecosystem service assessments, both in preparation and performance of assessments