Concluding remarks: What do we know, and where do we go from here?

GONZÁLEZ, RAÚL; NARVARTE, MAITE; VILLAFAÑE, VIRGINIA E.; HELBLING, E. WALTER

Global change in Atlantic coastal Patagonian ecosystems: A journey through time

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2022; p. 447 - 453

The effects of climatic and anthropogenic drivers of global change on the Atlantic Patagonian coastal ecosystem have been evidenced throughout the chapters of this book. While the changes in climate have been rather mild so far, or perhaps remained hidden over time, the anthropogenic factors have been the main cause which affected the environmental quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. In the next decades, climate change is expected to produce variations in the ranges of species? distribution, their abundance and phenology, as well as in the ecological interactions. Anthropogenic stressors are leading to increasing environmental degradation and irreversible changes in the ecosystems? structure and function. The sustainable use of the Patagonian coastal ecosystem is critically important to the Argentine economy, and particularly symbolic for much of the humanity. Therefore, drastic actions must be taken to reverse environmental degradation, confer sustainability on ecosystems, and improve society?s adaptation to global change. This challenge requires not only effective management actions by formally instituted governments, but also a new form of governance and empowerment of the society.