Climate Change Adaptation Planning for Biodiversity Conservation： A Review

• Published in: Advances in climate change research Vol. 3; no. 1; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Watson, James E.M., Rao, Madhu, Ai-Li, Kang, Yan, Xie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 25.03.2012; School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072, Australia%Wildlife Conservation Society and Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore%Wildlife Conservation Society China Program, Beijing 100101, China%Wildlife Conservation Society China Program, Beijing 100101, China; Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Global Conservation Programs, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx NY 10460, USA
• Subjects: climate change adaptation; conservation planning; species conservation; vulnerability analysis; 保护生物多样性; 保护规划; 展望; 气候变化; 物种分布; 生态系统; 生物多样性保护; 脆弱性评估; vulnerability analysis; species conservation; conservation planning; climate change adaptation
• ISSN: 1674-9278; 1674-9278
• DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2012.00001

Climate change has been linked to well-documented changes in physiology, phenology, species distributions, and in some cases, extinction. Projections of future change point to dramatic shifts in the states of many ecosystems. Aceommodating these shifts to effectively conserve biodiversity in the context of uncertain climate regimes represents one of the most difficult challenges faced by conservation planners. A number of adaptation strategies have been proposed for managing species and ecosystems in a changing climate. However, there has been little guidance available on integrating climate change adaptation strategies into contemporary conservation planning frameworks. The paper reviews the different approaches being used to integrate climate change adaptation into conservation planning, broadly categorizing strategies as continuing and extending on ＂best practice＂ principles and those that integrate species vulnerability assessments into conservation planning. We describe the characteristics of a good adaptation strategy emphasizing the importance of incorporating clear principles of flexibility and efficiency, accounting for uncertainty, integrating human response to climate change and understanding trade-offs.