Climate-smart conservation

This course is based on a forthcoming guide to the principles and practice of Climate-Smart Conservation. This publication is the product of an expert workgroup on climate change adaptation convened by the National Wildlife Federation in collaboration with the FWS’s National Conservation Training Center and other partners. The course is designed to demystify climate adaptation for application to on-the-ground conservation. It will provide guidance in how to carry out adaptation with intentionality, how to manage for change and not just persistence, how to craft climate-informed conservation goals, and how to integrate adaptation into on-going work. Conservation practitioners and natural resource managers will learn to become savvy consumers of climate information, tools, and models.

Objectives:

• Design adaptation planning processes that are relevant at multiple scales (e.g., place-based to large landscape level)
• Evaluate conservation goals from a climate change perspective, and align adaptation strategies with climate-informed goals
• Explain how climate change vulnerability assessments, scenario planning, and downscaled climate models inform adaptation
• Describe the process for identifying possible adaptation options based on vulnerability information and other management considerations
• Integrate climate adaptation into existing planning and decision making processes and policies.