Informe El medio ambiente en Europa: Estado y perspectivas 2020

PART 2
Since the 1950s, and in
particular after 2000, Europe
has increasingly experienced
heat extremes and heat waves.
adapt to the unavoidable impacts of
past and future climate change. In
summary, the short-term adaptation
challenges are largely independent
of mitigation efforts, whereas the
long‐term climate challenge, and
societies’ ability to adapt to it, are
strongly dependent on the success of
global mitigation efforts.
There can be synergies as well as
trade‐offs between climate change
mitigation and adaptation objectives.
One strategy that often brings about
mitigation as well as adaptation benefits
is ecosystem-based adaptation. This
is a nature-based solution that uses
ecosystem services as part of an overall
strategy to increase the resilience and
reduce the vulnerability of communities
to climate change (Secretariat of the
Convention on Biological Diversity, 2009).
Examples include natural water
retention measures and green
infrastructure (EC, 2013c; NWRM, 2019).
Ecosystem‐based adaptation can
generate many environmental, social,
economic and cultural benefits
(EEA, 2017b; EC, 2018b). For further
information, see the Climate‐ADAPT
platform ( 5 ). Ecosystem‐based adaptation
can also contribute to climate change
mitigation by reducing emissions caused
by ecosystem degradation and/or by
enhancing carbon stocks. An example
of trade-offs between adaptation
and mitigation is energy-intensive
desalinisation or air conditioning based
on fossil fuels.
7.3.4
Climate change and its impacts on
ecosystems
►See Table 7.7
All ecosystems, many economic
activities and human health and
well‐being are sensitive to climate
variability and change. This section
gives an overview of key changes in the
climate system in the past and future,
and of selected impacts on ecosystems.
More detailed information on this topic
is available in the EEA report Climate
change, impacts and vulnerability in
Europe 2016 — an indicator based report
(EEA, 2017c). Specific information about
the European climate in a particular
year is available in the European
state of the climate reports published
annually by the C3S (C3S, 2018a).
Average temperature
Global average annual near-surface
(land and ocean) temperature in
the last decade (2009-2018) was
about 0.91‐0.96 °C warmer than the
pre‐industrial average (1850-1899)
(Figure 7.6). The European land area has
warmed by 1.6-1.7 °C over the same
period, with significant regional and
seasonal differences. Of the 19 warmest
years on record globally, 18 have
occurred since 2000 (EEA, 2019f).
All UNFCCC member countries
have agreed on the long-term goal
of keeping the increase in global
average temperature to well below
2 °C compared with pre-industrial
levels and have agreed to aim to limit
the increase to 1.5 °C. About half of
the maximum admissible warming
under the Paris Agreement has
already been realised. For the three
highest of the four representative
concentration pathways (RCPs,
loosely known as emissions scenarios)
considered by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the
global mean temperature increase is
projected to exceed 2 °C compared
with pre‐industrial levels during the
21st century, and most likely in the
2040s (IPCC, 2013; Vautard et al., 2014).
‘Very deep and rapid global emissions
reductions, requiring far-reaching
transitions in all sectors of the economy,
are necessary to keep the chance of
limiting global mean temperature
increase to 1.5 °C (IPCC, 2018).’
Heat extremes
Annually averaged land temperatures
in Europe have increased considerably
faster than global temperatures
(see above), and daily maximum
temperatures in Europe have increased
much faster than annually averaged
temperatures. This means that a given
increase in global mean temperature is
associated with a much larger increase
in heat extremes in Europe.
Heat extremes and heat waves in
Europe have increased considerably
since the 1950s, and in particular
after 2000. Since publication of
the SOER 2015, all-time national
temperature records were broken in
eight EEA member countries (Poland
in 2015, Spain in 2017 and Belgium,
France, Germany, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and the United Kingdom
in 2019), several of them with a large
margin. In the same period, national
records for the warmest night, which
is particularly relevant from a human
health perspective, were broken in
nine countries (Austria in 2015, France
and Slovenia in 2017, the Netherlands
( 5 ) https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/eu-adaptation-policy/sector-policies/ecosystem
170 SOER 2020/Climate change