Integrated data-driven analysis of climate, biosphere and socio-economic co-variability: towards a planetary health index
In the context of global change, the biosphere has been experiencing systematic changes. Biospheric changes are not only linked to the atmosphere via the variability and changes of climate but also linked to socio-economic drivers. Socio-economic and climate drivers may both act either slowly, causing trends, or abruptly, causing extreme events, shocks, or tipping points. However, the relative importance of climate and socio-economic factors for the biosphere dynamics and their moderating mechanisms is not well understood and may vary spatially. To gain insights into the links between climate, biosphere, and society, we study the relationships between the trajectories in the three different domains by analyzing multi-stream global data from 2001-2020, including a biospheric and climate data cube and subnational socio-economic data. We hypothesize that climatic change is a globally widespread driver, almost relevant everywhere, but can be additionally mediated by socio-economic drivers (e.g. land-use and freshwater management). Another hypothesis is that social-economic shocks can lead to an unsystematic shift of biospheric resilience after climate extremes. This study aims to quantify biospheric responses to climate and society from data-driven signals, and has an essential implication on understanding human footprints on biospheric changes globally.
