Climate-Smart Conservation: Putting Adaptation Principles into Practice

Climate-Smart Conservation: Putting Adaptation Principles into Practice looks at how climate change already is affecting the nation’s wildlife and habitats, and addresses how natural resource managers will need to prepare for and adapt to these unprecedented changes. Developed by a broad collaboration of experts from federal, state, and non-governmental institutions, the guide offers practical steps for crafting conservation actions to enhance the resilience of the natural ecosystems on which wildlife and people depend.

Climate-Smart Conservation complements the recently released National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, which provides a high-level roadmap for sustaining the nation’s ecosystems in the face of a changing climate. The new guide offers a means to translate and carry out that plan’s strategies at particular places, offering hope for the future to sites ranging from our grandest national parks to cherished local community greenways.

The 272-page guide is organized around a stepwise framework for adaptation planning and implementation that helps demystify what can be a complex and bewildering subject. The guide addresses such topics as:

  • Assessing climate change vulnerability
  • Reconsidering conservation goals in light of climate change
  • Identifying, evaluating, and selecting adaption strategies
  • Tracking the effectiveness of adaptation actions
  • Dealing with uncertainty