Dealing with complex problems, such as the effects of climate change, requires a collective strategy.
At least, that’s the wisdom underlying a plan to coordinate conservation efforts between federal, state, and local governments, as well as Native American tribes, environmental organizations, industry, and private landowners released today by the US. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The report, titled Rising to the Urgent Challenge: Strategic Plan for Responding to Accelerating Climate Change, is an attempt to address the threat to natural habitat posed by accelerating climate change.
“We can’t face all these challenges from within Fish and Wildlife,” said Dan Ashe, deputy director at FWS, at a conference for the report’s release. The plan outlines proposals to work interdependently with conservation groups and other agencies to help gather data and assess climate-related impacts.
The report identifies three main areas FWS intends to focus on: helping wildlife adapt to the effects of climate change, looking for ways to mitigate greenhouse gasses, and engaging private and public groups to talk about climate change. It may also be part of a continuing effort within the US Department of the Interior (DOI) to reestablish some of the scientific credibility lost during the previous administration.
“It wasn’t long ago you couldn’t discuss this in the Interior corridors,” said Tom Strickland, the DOI’s assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
As part of the strategy, FWS is establishing a network of 21 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives to understand the basic problems different US regions face from the changing environment. The cooperatives will try to establish how species and populations are moving in response to climate change and other large scale stresses, said Ashe. Congress has already appropriated $20 million for this effort and 12 cooperatives are currently up and running.
Additionally, FWS is working with the US Geological Survey to create partnerships with universities and produce data regarding the physical effects of climate change, including changes in air temp, soil moisture, snowfall, and other factors, said Ashe.
He added that the agency is committed to helping reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and the report calls on it to become carbon neutral by 2020, a goal suggested by employees of FWS.
“Unless we reduce our carbon footprint as a country and as a planet, we are going to be fighting a losing battle against climate change,” said Strickland.
Image: US Fish and Wildlife Service