The ATEAM vulnerability mapping tool

Terrestrial ecosystems provide a number of vital services for people and society, such as biodiversity, food, fibre, water purification, carbon sequestration, and recreation. The future capability of ecosystems to provide these services is determined by changes in socio-economic trends, land use, biodiversity, atmospheric composition and climate. The primary objective of the project ATEAM (Advanced Terrestrial Ecosystem Analysis and Modelling) was to assess the vulnerability of human sectors relying such ecosystem services. Within ATEAM a full suite of ecosystem models, covering biodiversity, agriculture, forestry, hydrology, and carbon sequestration were run for the same internally consistent scenarios of alternative futures. Each model gives insights into specific ecosystems and ecosystem services. Moreover, by combining and integrating the results in ATEAM’s Vulnerability Assessment, more complex queries on series of ecosystems and ecosystem services can be answered as well. This report acts as a background document to the ATEAM Vulnerability Mapping Tool provided on the CD-rom. This software acts as a digital atlas of the many maps created by the ATEAM project, giving both the scientific community and other stakeholders access to the project’s results. Besides generating fact sheets containing both maps and background information, the tool also includes some simple analysis functionality. This report contains a summary of the ATEAM project, a manual to the mapping tool, guidelines for interpreting scenarios and potential impacts and an explanation of the ATEAM vulnerability framework.