For the past four years, the organization that I work for, The Resource Innovation Group (TRIG), has been running a series of Climate Futures Forums in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Forums are essentially based on the principles of Community Based Adaptation (CBA) and we have found them to be an effective means for bridging the gap between climate scientists and local decision-makers. In addition, the Forums demonstrate the value of bringing local experts into the community adaptation planning process: these “experts” are individuals that may not necessarily have academic training on climate change or adaptation, but who have observational and experiential expertise. They live, work and play in these communities and know them well. While the Forums have proven to be extremely instrumental for adaptation planning in the Pacific Northwest, I hope that by sharing the process and lessons learned here, other organizations may be interested in replication.
It can be challenging to find climate change adaptation resources that explain complex concepts to lay audiences in easy-to-understand language. Academic journal articles, project case studies, vulnerability assessments, and the like often speak to the experts rather than newcomers. Providing these types of documents to those new to the field is like asking them to watch a mystery movie one hour after it started – they might catch on eventually, but chances are they will leave the cinema confused and frustrated.
Thankfully there are a number of resources out there that are appropriate for those who are relatively new to adaptation. Here are a few that I have found particularly useful and always include in the bundle of pdf’s that I distribute to our workshop participants. All are available free of charge online.
PRBO Conservation Science is a non-profit organization with a mission to conserve birds, other wildlife, and ecosystems through innovative scientific research and outreach. PRBO’s highest priority is to develop and promote conservation practices that address the challenges of rapid environmental change. Since the early 1980’s, we have focused a large amount of our work on riparian areas of California because relative to other habitats, these areas are disproportionately important for migratory birds, but also disproportionately degraded.
After initially working to describe the bird use of existing riparian areas, we quickly began working with restoration practitioners to document the recolonization of restored riparian areas by migratory birds. Subsequently, we have helped develop and test new restoration strategies that can generate higher quality habitat in the shortest amount of time. As a result, our work has expanded to include collaborations with hydrologists, geomorphologists, landscape ecologists, and vegetation ecologists.
Climate change means that the field of restoration is no longer simply concerned with regenerating what has been lost, but also with preparing for what is to come. We are now frequently asked if restoration can remain relevant in a future with warmer temperatures, more frequent extreme events, and novel species assemblages. As a result, it has become impossible for us not to ask, “What will climate change mean for riparian restoration?” We addressed this question by assembling a team of partners who have been involved with restoration projects from several different perspectives (hydrology, vegetation science, and wildlife management) and organizations (The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, University of California Davis, Bureau of Land Management, River Partners, and Audubon California).
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond is a world-renowned expert on ancient societies. His now famous book, Collapse, is a study of the choices societies have made throughout history in the face of change – climate change, as well as others — and the consequences of such choices.
In early 2011, my colleague, John Matthews, and I had a chance to sit down with Diamond to talk about climate change, the challenges presented to conservation and development practitioners, and the opportunities he sees in confronting them.
I was trained as a biologist in the traditional university-style: a focus on one-discipline. Most of my research over the 15 years since this formal training ended has focused on understanding the growth and movements of marine species. A lot involved work on cephalopods – squid, octopus and cuttlefish – creatures that are strongly influenced by environmental conditions, such as changes in water temperature.
Given my background as a marine scientist, I guess it was inevitable that I would become interested in species responses to climate change, and what we may be able to do to help best adapt to the subsequent impacts on marine ecosystems. Like many marine biologists, my existing skill set and experience was geared towards the detection of biological impacts and not really the development and assessment of adaptation options. I discovered very quickly that adaptation research was a whole new kettle of fish!
Ecosystem-based Adaptation. If you understand what adaptation is, then the term “ecosystem-based adaptation,” or EbA, should be self-explanatory. But it’s not. There is perhaps no concept more confusing or misunderstood than this one. So what does Ecosystem-based Adaptation really mean and why are we so confused about it?
To understand the source of this confusion, we must first look at another term – Community-based Adaptation, or CbA. As far as I can tell, there is no universally accepted definition of CbA. Each development organization that employs CbA seems to have its own way of defining it. One definition that I like states that “CbA is a community-led process based on communities’ priorities, needs, knowledge, and capacities, which should empower people to plan for and cope with the impacts of climate change.” (Hannah Reid, Mozaharul Alam, Rachel Berger, Terry Cannon, Saleemul Huq, and Angela Milligan, Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change: an Overview, 2010)
“How is climate adaptation work different than what I have been doing?” This is the number one question I hear as a member of the adaptation team here at WWF-US. From San Francisco to Nairobi to Hanoi, it’s everyone’s first question at the beginning of a meeting or at a start of a workshop. It’s also the trickiest to answer. So ok, here is the answer: Adaptation is a means, not an end.
Everything clear now? Are we all ready to begin adapting?
I didn’t think so…
That’s because adaptation work is all about context, and as such my very general answer is really not that helpful. However, at the risk of sounding like a know-it-all, I think that this key concept, that adaption is not about what you do but why and how you do it, is something that many people need to absorb if they are going to successfully integrate adaptation into their work. Sure, it doesn’t provide any of the conservationists I have met around the world with the strategies needed to protect a particular species, but it does answer the question.
For the sake of illustration let’s consider two different conservation planning scenarios:
Just like the swimming polar bears have become symbols for disappearing sea ice in the Arctic, the remote atolls of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean have become emblematic for the consequences of sea level rise.
It just makes plain sense that islands on which the highest elevation is sometimes less than two meters, the IPCC’s predicted sea level rise of up to 58 cm by 2100 will cause devastation.
Or does it? Things that seem obvious at first glance, usually turn out to be more complicated if you look closer. So too with climate change.
In spite of the attention devoted to tropical islands over the last few years, with stories about “climate refugees” and whole nations being forced to move off their islands because of sea level rise, research on the subject has been scarce.
There is little doubt that climate change is happening. It is highly probable that we will experience sea level rise this century and with it an increase in severe flooding events. However, how and to what extent this will affect the islanders of the world is a different story. Not necessarily a happier one, but it could at least be one about capabilities, adaptation, knowledge and resilience; rather than the one-sided doomsday narratives we have come to know too well.
Click the image to download a copy of Flowing Forward
Periodically on ClimatePrep we like to draw attention to new and interesting publications that we feel are worth highlighting. This week we would like to point out Flowing Forward, a new report written by WWF for the World Bank.
Flowing Forward provides guiding principles, processes, and methodologies for incorporating climate change adaptation into water sector projects. As such Flowing Forward actually marks the first comprehensive set of tools to achieve climate-sustainable water management.
Effective water resource management is central to adapting our economies and societies to emerging climate conditions. But the uncertainty surrounding our future climate poses a major challenge to engineers and policymakers, especially when developing long-term water infrastructure development strategies.
Practical methodologies, such as those presented in Flowing Forward are critically needed. According to Julia Bucknail, Manager for the World Bank’s Energy, Transport, and Water Department, “We can’t wait another 30 years for predictions to tell us how climate change is affecting freshwater resources. The threats are being felt now. The World Bank needs climate adaptation decision-making techniques, and it needs them now.”
In April, I was stymied by a late-season blizzard; in mid-June, extreme flooding washed out a section of Trans-Canada Highway. Finally, in late June I was able to make the drive from our Bozeman, Montana field office to Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan to lead a planning workshop on climate adaptation. The direct impact of severe weather events—which are predicted to increase in the future—was not lost on the participants.
I’ve begun leading workshops like this in the Northern Great Plains, along with some colleagues from other conservation organizations, to help land managers identify ways to integrate climate change adaptation into natural resource planning. For this workshop, we invited a group of Canadian federal and provincial managers and participants from universities and other regional organizations. We were there to discuss integrating climate adaptation into a long-term planning process called the South-of-the-Divide Species at Risk Action Plan.
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