Climate change adaptation and ecosystem protection in the United States

Efforts to adapt to climate change are being undertaken by all levels of government, the private sector, and NGOs. Many of these efforts are aimed at increasing the resilience of ecosystems to climate change. Institutions have been created to coordinate ecosystem adaptation and climate change is being factored into many ecosystem planning activities. Nonetheless, implementation is slow and incremental due to limited funding, policy and legal impediments, and difficulty anticipating climate change. Ecosystem vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated by other stressors, so adaptation includes ameliorating those stresses.  The effectiveness of climate change adaptation needs to be evaluated.