Report Released on Stakeholder Discussions about the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center and DOI Climate Science Centers

The recently released Report on the National Partners Dialogue: A Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center and DOI Climate Science Centers covers the outcomes of a two-day meeting in 2011 that gathered over 60 representatives from federal, state, and tribal agencies and non-profit groups to discuss the centers' implementation, gather feedback on draft priorities for climate adaptation science, and identify opportunities for improvement. The meeting was convened by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Ecological Society of America, The Wildlife Society, and the Meridian Institute. Discussions and feedback focused around:

• communication and collaboration between and among scientists and managers;
• the role of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center;
• feedback on the draft National Science Agenda;
• strategies for stakeholder input, especially from tribes and state agencies, into the Climate Science Center Agendas;
• prioritization of management-relevant science needs; and
• strategies to support communication and collaboration between the Climate Science Centers and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.

New Case Study on CAKE: Preparing for Climate Change in Missoula County, Montana

Missoula County is already experiencing the effects of climate change, ranging from increasing air and water temperatures to decreasing snowpack and summer flows. Scientists predict that these effects will combine to worsen wildfire risk, disease outbreaks, and invasive species establishment, among others. In response to these threats, the Clark Fork Coalition, Geos Institute, and Headwaters Economics partnered to increase public awareness of climate change and create adaptation strategies with local input and buy in. In June 2011, around 100 Missoula locals gathered for a two-day workshop based on the ClimateWise process created by the Geos Institute. Participants identified the top threats and potential impacts to the area's natural environment and community. Twenty-four adaptation strategies and 100 implementation actions were derived by workshop participants; results are available through an interactive online tool on the Clark Fork Coalition’s website. For more information, read the case study on CAKE or contact Jill Alban or Ray Rasker.

New report details lessons learned from ten climate change adaptation examples

Headwaters Economics, a non-profit based in Montana, recently released Implementing Climate Change Adaptation: Lessons Learned from Ten Examples. Adaptation is a developing field and practitioners are in need of practical examples of planning, implementation, and evaluation of adaptation activities. Gathering information on lessons learned from those working on climate change adaptation is a key activity to help bridge the gap between theory and practice. The report focuses on city and county examples from across the United States, including Boulder (Colorado), Chicago (Illinois), Chula Vista (California), Eugene (Oregon), Keene (New Hampshire), Miami-Dade County (Florida), New York, Olympia (Washington), Portland (Oregon), and Taos (New Mexico). 

Overall, the lessons learned include:

• Focus on an immediate, recognizable threat
• Recognize local values, and be flexible
• Start with an existing process
• Utilize local activists
• Look for leadership in unexpected places
• Involve elected officials early
• Work with the right department, and dedicated staff
• Reach out to the community
• Facilitate peer-to-peer learning and offer positive examples
• Recognize limited capacity
• Don’t get trapped by the climate debate
• Use outside expertise that:
• Has legitimacy with leaders
• Understands community organizing          
• Provides technical details
• Don’t wait for perfection
• Use economic and fiscal arguments
• Make use of regional compacts
• Recognize mitigation can be a first step

Climate Adaptation Projects in the Great Lakes or Western U.S. and Canada?

Then fill out a survey to support our State of Adaptation Program!

Great Lakes: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecoadaptgreatlakes

Western U.S. and Canada: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecoadaptwesternsurvey

New Adaptation Mavens' Advice Column: Knowing and Not Knowing

Dear Adaptation Mavens,
Here’s a topic I’m surprised hasn’t gotten more attention in your column: uncertainty. It seems to me to be the number one bugaboo for getting action on climate change, and it’s what lets so many conservatives live in denial about the importance of this issue. It’s what makes climate change so much different than all the other environmental problems we face, and quite frankly it IS hard to know what to do given that we don’t know how much climate change will happen and what it will do. So how can we move beyond climate uncertainty paralysis and actually start adapting our work to climate change?
                                                                                                   - Certainly Uncertain

Dear Certainly,
To quote Ben Franklin, “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Our lives are fraught with daily uncertainty from the weather to the international financial markets to our boss’s mood, yet when it comes to climate change, people feel somehow paralyzed by the uncertainty. Why is this?

Read the rest over on CAKE.