WASHINGTON, June 30 — How are our ecosystems likely to change over the next three decades as a result of global warming? A mapping tool designed by a company and a university in the US is available free online to give us an idea.

From deforestation and declining biodiversity to drought and megafires, the consequences of climate change on the planet are well and truly visible. And if current trends are not reversed, they are set to worsen in the years to come. To assess the extent of damage to the planet’s land cover between 2018 and 2050, the US-based Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) has designed a series of interactive maps, in collaboration with researchers from Clark Labs at Clark University.

"Since Clark Labs modelled these layers based on the same 2010 and 2018 European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative land cover already in Living Atlas, these layers can be used together,” state the researchers who created the tool. They add: "This evaluation was used to develop a vulnerability model that identifies where development could convert natural vegetation to agriculture and urban lands by the year 2050.”

Designed to assess both current risks and future changes to the planet’s various ecosystems as a result of human activity, this online tool allows you to navigate the different continents using a cursor positioned between 2018 and 2050. Several colours help to identify ecosystems on the maps. Pastures, shrubs and lawns, for example, are represented in yellow, while agricultural areas and forests are shown in pink and green respectively.

"Understanding how our world has changed can provide insight into building a more sustainable and prosperous future. By analysing historic global land cover data and observing change over time, we can make fundamental predictions and forecast growth patterns for the future,” the tool’s creators hope. — ETX Studio