Editing IPCC:AR6/SROCC/Chapter-1 (section)

== 1.5 Risk and Impacts Related to Ocean and Cryosphere Change ==

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SROCC assesses the risks (i.e., potential for adverse consequences) and impacts (i.e., manifested risk) resulting from climate-related changes in the ocean and cryosphere. Knowledge on risk is essential for conceiving and implementing adequate responses. Cross-Chapter Box 2 in Chapter 1 introduces key concepts of risk, adaptation, resilience and transformation, and explains why and how they matter for this report.

In SROCC, the term ‘natural system’ describes the biological and physical components of the environment, independent of human involvement but potentially affected by human activities. ‘Natural systems’ may refer to portions of the total system without necessarily considering all its components (e.g., an ocean upwelling system). Throughout the assessment usage of ‘natural system’ does not imply a system unaltered by human activities.

‘Human systems’ include physiological, health, socio-cultural, belief, technological, economic, food, political, and legal systems, among others. Humans have depended upon the Earth’s ocean (WOA, 2016; IPBES, 2018b <sup>[[#fn:r142|142]]</sup> ) and cryosphere (AMAP, 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r143|143]]</sup> ; Hovelsrud et al., 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r144|144]]</sup> ; Watt-Cloutier, 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r145|145]]</sup> ) for many millennia (Redman, 1999 <sup>[[#fn:r146|146]]</sup> ). Contemporary human populations still depend directly on elements of the ocean and cryosphere, and the ecosystem services they provide, but at a much larger scale and with greater environmental impact than in pre-industrial times (Inniss and Simcock, 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r147|147]]</sup> ).

An ecosystem is a functional unit consisting of living organisms, their non-living environment, and the interactions within and between them. Ecosystems can be nested within other ecosystems and their scale can range from very small to the entire biosphere. Today, most ecosystems either contain humans as key organisms, or are influenced by the effects of human activities in their environment. In SROCC, a social-ecological system describes the combined system and all of its sub-components and refers specifically to the interaction of natural and human systems.

The ocean and cryosphere are unique systems that have intrinsic value, including the ecosystems and biodiversity they support. Frameworks of Ecosystem Services and Nature’s Contributions to People are both used within SROCC to assess the impacts of changes in the ocean and cryosphere on humans directly, and through changes to the ecosystems that support human life and civilisations (Sections 2.3, 3.4.3.2, 4.3.3.5, 5.4, 6.4, 6.5, 6.8). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005) established a conceptual Ecosystem Services framework between biodiversity, human well-being, and drivers of change. This framework highlights that natural systems provide vital life-support services to humans and the planet, including direct material services (e.g., food, timber), non-material services (e.g., cultural continuity, health), and many services that regulate environmental status (e.g., soil formation, water purification). This framework supports decision-making by quantifying benefits for valuation and trade-off analyses. The Ecosystem Services framework has been challenged as monetising the relationships of people with nature, and undervaluing small-scale livelihoods, cultural values and other considerations that contribute little to global commerce (Díaz et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r148|148]]</sup> ). More recent frameworks, such as Nature’s Contributions to People (Díaz et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r149|149]]</sup> ), used in the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services assessments (IPBES), aim to better encompass the non-commercial ways that nature contributes to human quality of life.

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