Upon completion of the vulnerability assessment, the planning team should know where it wants to direct preliminary adaptation efforts. The adaptation strategy consists of establishing goals and identifying and prioritizing actions that can help meet them. These goals and actions may change over time based on new scientific findings, improved vulnerability assessments, observed climate change impacts and consequences, and implementation successes and failures. As is discussed further in Chapter 6, goals and actions will need to be revisited and revised over time
The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) Framework: A Tool for Incorporating Climate Change into Natural Resource Management
As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)-water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate.
Beyond Kyoto: Forest Management in a Time of Rapid Climate Change
Policies to reduce global warming by offering credits for carbon sequestration have neglected the effects of forest management on biodiversity. I review properties of forest ecosystems and management options for enhancing the resistance and resilience of forests to climate change. Although forests, as a class, have proved resilient to past changes in climate, today’s fragmented and degraded forests are more vulnerable. Adaptation of species to climate change can occur through phenotypic plasticity, evolution, or migration to suitable sites, with the latter probably the most common response in the past.
The application of a hierarchical, decision-support system to evaluate multi-objective forest management strategies: a case study in northeastern British Columbia, Canad
ncreases in the environmental awareness of global consumers coupled with pressure from regional stakeholders has forced forest managers to demonstrate the potential implications of forest management activities for a broad range of indicators. This paper describes the construction and application of a hierarchical decision-support system for evaluating multi-objective management options for a 288,000 ha forest in northeastern British Columbia. The decision-support system includes a stand-level model, a forest estate model, a habitat model and a visualization model.
Adaptation Strategies Guide for Water Utilities
Adapting your system and operations to climate change challenges requires consideration and planning. How
ever, adaptation planning is not necessarily a new effort, distinct from other utility practices. Because adaptation strategies can often provide multiple benefits, adaptation planning can be integrated into emergency response planning, capacity development, capital investment planning, water supply and demand planning, conservation practices, and infrastructure maintenance.
