Climate change is altering coastal environments and how conservation is approached. To address this challenge, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management has produced a new Guide for Considering Climate Change in Coastal Conservation, along with a companion How to Consider Climate Change in Coastal Conservation self-guided online resource.
These products are now live on NOAA’s Digital Coast under “Training” and will soon be found on the Green Infrastructure topics page. Together, these products help practitioners evaluate how their conservation efforts can endure amid changing conditions, placing communities and natural environments in the best position to adapt.
The Guide does this by describing a stepwise approach to considering climate change in coastal conservation planning, with links to relevant tools, information and other resources. The steps should be familiar to those already practicing strategic conservation planning, but unlike other guides, these new products specifically focus on climate and habitat considerations of the coastal environment.
The How-To offers brief instruction on each step from the Guide and provides quick access to the most applicable tools when working through each step. This interactive online resource allows users to dive into whichever stage of the process is most relevant to them. It will be updated periodically with new resources.