Post on 11-May-2018
The Promise of RestorationThe Challenge of Climate Change
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
GEER 2010
Naples, Florida
July 15, 2010
Restoring America’s Everglades
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Human Ecology Jeopardy
The average ecological footprint of a U.S. citizen
It will grow from 6.9 billion in 2009 to over 9 billion in 2040What is “World population”
It will grow from 310 million (2009) to over 435 million (2040)What is “U.S. population”
The percentage of total world oil production consumed by the U.S.What is “24.4 percent”
What is “294 hectares” (726 acres) China 1.6 ha -- India 0.8 ha
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
The Future of Biodiversity
20%-30% of species assessed will be at increasingly high extinction risk as global temperatures rise 2 C to 3 C.
If global temperature rise exceeds 3.5 C, models project significant extinctions (40-70% of species assessed)
Outline of Presentation
I. Climate Change and the Everglades
II. What Are We Doing?
III. What Do We Have?
IV. What Do We Need?
V. What Must We Consider?
VI. Take Home Messages
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Climate Change and the Everglades
• 67 Threatened and Endangered Species• Native Fish and Wildlife Species• Exotic Species
* Florida panther * Key deer * Key Largo cotton mouse * Key Largo woodrat
* Lower Keys rabbit * Rice rat * Audubon's crested caracara * Cape Sable seaside sparrow
* Everglade snail kite * Florida scrub-jay * Wood stork *American crocodile * Green sea turtle
* Hawksbill sea turtle * Kemp's ridley sea turtle * Leatherback sea turtle * Loggerhead sea turtle
* Schaus swallowtail butterfly * Stock Island tree snail * Key tree-cactus
• 67 Threatened and Endangered Species• Native Fish and Wildlife Species• Exotic Species
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Department of the Interior Action
• Secretarial Order 3289: Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources (March 11, 2009)
• DOI Regional Climate Change Response Centers– USGS National Climate Science Centers
• Landscape Conservation Cooperatives– Adaptation on a Landscape-Level Basis through
a Broad Partnership
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
http://www.fws.gov/home/climatechange/
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
1. National and International Leadership
2. A New Spirit of Interdependence3. Sustainable Landscapes4. Priorities: Choices, Calculated
Risk, Constant Evaluation5. Assembling State-of-the-Art
Technical Capacity6. Scientific Excellence,
Professionalism and Integrity
Rising to the Challenge: Six Guiding Principles
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Adaptation: Helping fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats adapt to climate change
Mitigation: Reducing levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere
Engagement: Reaching out internally and externally, and joining forces with others, to seek solutions to the challenges that a changing climate system poses for fish and wildlife conservation
Rising to the Challenge: Three Major Strategies
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
• Impacts Today• A Growing Recognition• Cutting Edge Science• Restoration = Resistance and Resilience• Relationships and Momentum• Leadership in the State of Florida
What Do We Have?
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
“Impending climate change should not be an excuse for delay or inaction but, rather, as motivation to avoid irreversible losses and to
restore the resilience of the ecosystem.”Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Second Biennial Review National Research Council, 2008
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
• A New Way of Thinking• Everglades Restoration• More Tools to Incorporate Impacts of
Climate Change in Everyday Action• Conservation Lands Strategy• A New Multi-Species Recovery Plan• Better Understanding of Impacts
Beyond Sea Level Rise • Foresight – Vision for the Future
What Do We Need?
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
• DOI-MIT Partnership: Envision a Baseline of Tomorrow
• The Three Drivers: Climate Change, Land Use, and Restoration
• Vulnerability Assessments• A Climate Change Clearinghouse• Ask and Answer the Hard Questions• Engage Our Partners and the Public• Set Priorities – Take Action
What Do We Need?
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
• Legal Flexibility• Captive Breeding/Translocation• Habitat Restoration, Creation, and
Management• Habitat Corridors• Drinking Water• Flood Protection• Water Storage for Restoration• Carbon Sequestration• Invasive Species
What Must We Consider?
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Take Home Messages
• In Adversity Is Opportunity- A Restoration Call to Arms- Improve Species and Habitat Condition to Adapt to Changes
• Transformational Moment in the History of Conservation
• Our Time to Rewrite the Playbook• Interdisciplinary Partnerships• Leadership in Florida
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change
Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking always to become more effective.
-- Rachel Carson
Department of the InteriorEverglades and Climate Change