Management strategies for climate change adaptation

Publication Type  Conference Presentation
Authors  Nicole E Heller
Affiliations  Climate Central
Year  2009
Abstract  

Climate change creates new challenges for biodiversity management. Species ranges and ecological dynamics are already responding to recent climate changes, as well as other global changes. Current management strategies may not maintain the species they were designed to protect. Scholarly articles recommending measures to adapt conservation to climate change have proliferated over the last 23 years. This literature was systematically reviewed to explore what potential solutions have been identified and what consensus and direction is offered to cope with climate change. In this talk, I will discuss the options that emerge the most often, and their applicability to the management community. I will show that the application of the recommendations is limited by a number of gaps, including (1) a lack of specific, operational examples of adaptation principles that are consistent with unavoidable uncertainty about the future; (2) the absence of a practical adaptation planning process to guide selection and integration of recommendations into existing policies and programs; and (3) a lack of effort at integrating social science into an endeavor that, although dominated by ecology, necessitates extension beyond reserves and into human-occupied landscapes. These gaps can begin to be addressed through collaborative action by scientists, practitioners, and decision-makers. Together, these actors can translate gross adaptation themes into specific tactics in ways that incorporate an experimental approach, monitoring, and reflect the limits of funds, staffing, and management and community traditions. Progress in developing robust adaptation programs will emerge most rapidly if groups broadcast widely their efforts at developing and implementing these tactics.

Notes  

Nicole Heller is an ecologist at Climate Central, a hybrid research/media organization focused on understanding the impacts of climate change on society and communicating options for mitigation and adaptation. She holds a PhD in Biology from Stanford University and a BA in Ecology and Evolution from Princeton University. She did postdoctoral research at University of California, Santa Cruz and taught at Franklin and Marshall College. Her research interests include the spread of invasive species, the effects of global change on species, biodiversity management, climate change adaptation, and urban ecology. She is most interested in using her research to maximize the creation and maintenance of biodiversity in landscapes where people live and work.

Conference Name  2009 State of the Laguna Conference and Science Symposium
Presentation Type: 
Talk
Progress: 
Complete
AttachmentSize
1_Heller_Thurs session 1.pdf1.01 MB
Heller and Zavaleta 2009.pdf1.02 MB