Invitation for Recommendations for U.S. Authors and Reviewers to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

On January 21^st, 2010 the State Department posted a public notice on the Federal Register for recommendations for US authors and reviewers to the 5^th Assessment Report of the IPCC. Qualified U.S. experts who wish to be considered should submit an electronic application and supporting material to the United States Global Change Research Program website http://www.globalchange.gov .  Please distribute this information to climate change experts that you work closely with on adaptation issues. It would be beneficial to have experts from wildlife disciplines to be part of the IPCC, particularly those who are knowledgeable of the needs of state fish & wildlife agencies. The deadline for nominations is February 15^th, 2010.

Wildlife Conservation Society Climate Adaptation Coordinator Position Open

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) seeks a strategic, analytical conservationist to build adaptation to climate change into our global field programs and to represent WCS on this issue in global policy forums.  This full-time position, based at WCS’s headquarters, the Bronx Zoo in New York City, offers the opportunity to join an extraordinary team of committed conservationists, to influence conservation practice in over fifty countries, and to build a reputation in one of conservation’s fastest growing fields.

WCS saves wildlife and wild places through a global program of landscape, seascape, and species conservation projects employing over 3,000 in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the world’s oceans.  In global policy forums, we are listened to as scientists and conservationists with unrivalled field experience and success.

The Climate Adaptation Coordinator will have three main areas of responsibility:

·         Working with our regional, country, landscape, seascape, and species programs to ensure that each incorporates planning for adaptation to climate change and to promote cross-program learning;

·         Representing WCS at global policy forums to promote successful approaches to climate adaptation and the central role of biodiversity conservation in this endeavor;

·         Spearhead the development of an organization-wide climate adaptation strategy and help fundraise to implement this strategy.

The successful candidate will have: an advanced degree in landscape ecology, climate change ecology, modeling climate impacts on natural systems, conservation biology, or a related field; GIS skills; experience implementing strategic initiatives across a global organization; demonstrated ability to thrive in an organization characterized by a highly educated and mission-driven workforce; and strong interpersonal and communications skills including the ability to summarize concisely scientific findings.

Apply by sending an application letter and CV together with the names and contact information for three referees to recruitment@wcs.org, and Pamela Watim (pwatim@wcs.org).  For more information about Wildlife Conservation Society and a full job description, please visit our website at: http://www.wcs.org.

“Decision Making in the Face of Scientific Uncertainty: Adaptive Management for Climate Change” An Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Workshop at the 2010 North American Wildlife & Natural Resources Conference Milwaukee, WI 8am-12pm March 22nd

Resource managers are often required to make tough decisions, especially when the science is uncertain. However, these decisions must be defensible if called into question. It is often unclear what the full impact of an environmental problem will be and what kind of impacts (both intended and unintended) the solution may have. There is growing scientific consensus that a major shift in climate is underway worldwide, with profound implications for natural resource management. Adaptation to climate change will be an especially challenging issue for management agencies because decisions will be made, in many cases, based on an incomplete understanding of climate change impacts, particularly at the local level. Adaptive management and structured decision making are critical tools for making management decisions with incomplete information and high levels of uncertainty. Structured decision making is a decision analysis process that can help overcome challenges by breaking down difficult decisions such that a decision can be acceptable to a broad range of stakeholders. Adaptive management allows decision making to proceed even in the face of profound uncertainty about outcomes by treating management decisions as testable hypotheses.

Recognizing the importance of adaptive management and structured decision making, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Science & Research Committee is developing a series of workshops for state fish and wildlife agencies to provide them with the tools for making decisions in a scientifically defensible manner. The first workshop at the 2009 North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference focused on using adaptive management and structured decision making for invasive species management. For the second workshop the Science & Research Committee, in collaboration with the Associations Climate Change Committee, will present how adaptive management and the structured decision making process can be used to address climate change adaptation issues and can also be built into State Wildlife Action Plans revisions, as well as revisions for other plans.

The workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22^nd from 8am-12pm during the 2010 North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Milwaukee, WI.

For more information please contact Dr. Arpita Choudhury at achoudhury@fishwildlife.org

Manomet receives a $750,000 grant for Sustaining Ecosystem Services in the Face of Climate Change

Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences has received a three-year $750,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, based in Troy, Michigan, to develop climate change adaptation strategies for rural resource sectors, such as forestry and agriculture. The three-year project titled “Moving from Vulnerability to Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem

Services in the face of Climate Change” will focus on developing management strategies and policies for building resilient ecosystem services—those goods and services nature provides to people, such as clean water, food production, clean air, wood, flood control, space for recreation, and wildlife, many of which are essential to human survival and well-being.

Scientists know the climate will change and affect these services. The project will help landowners and communities learn how to adapt to impending changes by developing and implementing strategies that make the ecosystem services more resilient to climate change.

The project will work with four key sectors influencing rural landscapes in New England: forestry, agriculture, rural residential development, and conservation lands (such as state parks and wildlife refuges). The project will develop climate change adaptation strategies with individual landowners or managers and larger-scale watersheds and counties. Project sites will be located in southeastern Massachusetts and southern and mid-coast Maine. The project is one of the first in the nation to focus on building climate change resilience into ecosystem services through practical, on-the-ground management actions.

“This project is about getting climate change adaptation going now, on the ground, by working with people who live and work in rural landscapes,” said Manomet’s President Dr. John Hagan. “This is an opportunity to do something locally while participating in a larger national effort to learn how to confront climate change. The Copenhagen climate change conference last December made some progress, but we can’t wait for 180 nations to see eye-to-eye in order to get to work and protect our ‘quality of place.’”

“We need to do all we can to minimize climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but we also need to adapt to the changes we know will take place,” noted Dr. Hector Galbraith, Director of Manomet’s Climate Change and Energy Initiative. “In a best case scenario, New England’s climate by the end of the century could be like Virginia’s climate today, with all kinds of implications for New England agriculture and forestry, rural communities, and wildlife species. We have to start thinking ahead, and thinking ahead will lead to more sustainable and resilient systems to all kinds of stressors, not just to climate change.”

The National Wildlife Federation will be working on the project with Manomet to identify local, state, and national policies that would help landowners and communities adapt to climate change.

Recently, the Kresge Foundation established a new program in climate change, energy

efficiency, and renewable energy. The investment in Manomet’s work reflects the Foundation’s commitment to work in partnership with like-minded organizations to protect the planet and promote its long-term sustainability for future generations. “Manomet is playing a leadership role in helping people tackle the practical challenges of climate change,” said John Nordgren, Kresge’s Senior Program Officer and leader of its Climate Change Adaptation Program. “Manomet has a long and well-established reputation for knowing how to work with land managers to get things done on the ground.”

As one of the nation's oldest non-profit environmental research organizations, Manomet is dedicated to conserving natural resources for both humans and wildlife. Through science and public engagement, Manomet works to integrate society’s social, economic, and environmental values to create sustainable systems for present and future generations. Manomet’s headquarters are in Plymouth, Massachusetts, but it also has offices in Maine, Vermont, Mexico, and Chile. Learn more about Manomet at www.manomet.org.

The Kresge Foundation (www.kresge.org) is a $2.9 billion private, national foundation that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations through its support of nonprofit organizations in six fields of interest: health, the environment, community development, arts and culture, education, and human services.

Contact:

Rob Kluin, Communications Director

Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences

rkluin@manomet.org