Scientists widely recognize that climate change is putting millions of species at heightened risk of extinction, disrupting ecosystems, and jeopardizing many of the crucial goods and services that ecosystems provide to people.  Are the nation’s conservation laws and programs adequate to counter this threat?

Most of the current conservation laws contain an implicit assumption that the climate will remain stable and that changes in climate need not be considered in strategies to conserve ecosystems.  Similarly, most were written with no recognition that natural resource managers can contribute to reducing carbon pollution.

In the absence of a new legal framework for conserving ecosystems, conservation strategies will likely become increasingly ineffective over time.  For example, land acquisitions may fail to achieve the purpose of providing refugia for species if the selection of lands fails to account for the shifting ranges of those species.  Replanting of riparian vegetation likewise may fail if the plant species cannot survive in the new climatic conditions.

Results/Conclusions

Although emerging efforts on climate change adaptation and mitigation are promising, a new legal framework for such efforts is needed, one that fully grapples with the enormous challenge of conserving wildlife and ecosystems in the face of rapid climate change.  It should provide a mandate and financial and technical resources for natural resource managers to update their strategies to address the impacts of climate change.  Such updates should be carried out regularly based on new information, and accountability mechanisms should be developed that do not limit the ability of managers to employ this adaptive approach.

The new legal framework must also focus on agencies and industries developing and using natural resources in ways that are often at odds with long-term sustainability.   Special attention must be given to those agencies with the greatest leverage over public and private development and use of natural resources.  These agencies must adjust their strategies so that climate change does not limit their ability to meet basic human needs for water, food, shelter and electric power.  At the same time, they must ensure, in consultation with natural resource managers, that their strategies do not undermine ecosystem-oriented adaptation strategies.

Finally, natural resource managers should be given the responsibility to help reduce carbon pollution by, among other things, helping to store and sequester carbon in natural systems.