South African tourism could be affected due to loss of habitats and biodiversity as a result of climate change, according to a study produced by the Energy & Development Research Centre (EDRC), at the University of Cape Town. The study said tourism, which contributes as much as 10% of GDP, was the biggest potential economic loss to the country as a result of climate change. Other findings included a warning that forests, small but locally valuable in terms of commercial production of timber and non-timber products, stood to be “entirely lost”.