Description: This website aims to give an overview on how Climate Change affects freshwater ecosystems (rivers, lakes and wetlands) in Europe and worldwide
europe (4492) climate change (1592) lakes (534) rivers (258) case studies (216) freshwater (206) indicators (138) assessment systems (2) freshwater ecosystems (2) aquatic species (2)
Rivers, lakes and wetlands are under intense pressure from multiple use, pollution and habitat degradation. The services that aquatic ecosystems can provide to society have been greatly reduced, and the biota is strongly affected, with several aquatic species disappearing from entire ecoregions.
Climate change is predicted to add additional threats (such as increase in water temperature, more unstable flow regimes) while interacting in complex ways with other stressor types, such as eutrophication. Changing climate will also cause changes in land-use and crop production that will further intensify the pressures on freshwater systems. Consequentially, sensitive freshwater species will change their distribution; some will migrate to cooler locations, while others may parish. Non-indigenous species ar
In Europe, the principal legal instrument to halt the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems is the Water Framework Directive , which aims at restoring aquatic ecosystems back to good ecological status; this is a task for generations. Under this framework many indicators have been developed to reflect the status of water bodies and the follow success of restoration. However, climate change impacts were not addressed.