Chicago, a Leader in the US on Climate Change Adaptation

By Shaun Martin, WWF-US Among US cities, it appears that Chicago is among the most advanced on introducing climate adaptive measures into their planning, according to this New York Times article. If current emissions trends continue, by 2070 Chicago could have a climate that resembles that of today’s southern states of Alabama and Louisiana, with [...]

Identifying Opportunities & Assessing Vulnerability: Essential Characteristics of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments

By Eliot Levine, WWF-US Last August I found myself in a dark room at a conference facility outside of Delhi, listening to what was meant to be an adaptation talk.  The speaker was supposed to be walking us through adaptation options for conservationists and natural resource planners in India, but with only 15 minutes left [...]

LEARNING FROM THE PAST WHILE PROMOTING INCLUSIVE DECISION MAKING FOR THE FUTURE: THE CASE OF BOLIVIA

By Carina Bachofen and Edward Cameron Speaking at the UN Climate Conference in Bali in December 2007, Al Gore quoted the Spanish poet Antonio Machado telling the assembled delegates, “Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make the path as you walk.” The foundations for the path to climate change adaptation are built upon lessons learned from [...]

What Price Adaptation? What Does Good Adaptation Look Like?

By Carina Bachofen and Edward Cameron Assessments of the global cost of adaptation have varied drastically, ranging from $4-109 billion per year. The World Bank recently released the summary reports of the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change study, which estimates it will cost between $70-$100 billion each year from now until 2050. Why do cost estimates [...]

Home on the Range? Planning for Change on the Prairies

By Anne Schrag, WWF-US 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 [...]

Artificial Glaciers in the Himalayas provide water to desperate farmers

By Eliot Levine, WWF-US The information, graphics, and quotes found in the article below were repurposed from an earlier report on this subject by Scientific American. The original article, with additional pictures can be found here. In India, the ancient kingdom of Ladakh, between Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, is the highest inhabited region on Earth. It [...]

Saving Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches in a Changing Climate: Junquillal, Costa Rica

By Eliot Levine, WWF-US Marine turtles and their nesting beaches are threatened by sea-level rise and nest overheating resulting from climate change. A WWF project in Junquillal beach, Costa Rica, joined forces with the community to lead the implementation of adaptation measures such as coastal planning in consideration of sea-level rise, flood risk reduction, restoration of [...]

Building Climate Adaptation Capacity in Amazon Floodplain Communities

This story is part of a series on adaptation in the Brazilian Amazon. Located in the lower Amazon floodplain of Brazil, the Santarém region harbors important fisheries that many people depend on for employment, food security, government tax revenues, and items to export to both domestic and foreign markets. Climate change is creating difficulties, but not [...]

First Encounters

Fishermen on a boat carrying wood. Danube Delta, Romania Project (c) WWF-Canon / Michel GUNTHER

  This story is part of a series on adaptation in the Danube-Carpathian region.  “For this freshwater strategy meeting, we should invite someone from the climate group, you know, to see what they have got to say.” “Ok, let’s see who we can contact.” This is more or less how it all started in the summer [...]