Terrestrial ecosystems are sensitive to multiple stressors. For example, land use, land use changes, and climate change are among the major stressors of terrestrial ecosystems. Many future scenarios of the IPCC envisage a future that will be even more reliant on terrestrial ecosystems to supply renewable energy and materials. Stressors from land use changes are potential trade-offs for ecosystem adaptation in stringent climate change mitigation scenarios.

The combined effects of multiple stressors remain largely unexplored, especially when it comes to the response at a landscape level where multiple stressors can interact in complex ways. Terrestrial ecosystem stress is already manifesting in several parts of Norway and the Tibetan plateau of China, especially as a result of ongoing average and extreme temperature rise. MITISTRESS plans to map land uses and ecosystem stress levels under climate change in Norway and the Tibetan Plateau to quantify the cumulative effects on ecosystem services.

The major stressors covered in the project are land use, driven by multiple societal demands, and climate change. The project will process satellite data, carry out fieldwork in the Tibetan Plateau of China, calibrate and run regional climate and ecosystem models to develop novel approaches for assessing cumulative effects of multiple stressors on terrestrial ecosystems. MITISTRESS will ultimately generate new robust scientific knowledge to assist the design of land management policies in Norway and China.