If you grew up in Florida and suddenly relocated to North Dakota, you wouldn’t survive for long if you didn’t make a few adjustments to your lifestyle. To start, you would need warmer clothes and to learn how to drive in icy conditions. In other words, you would have to adapt to a new climate. In a warming world, however, you don’t have to move somewhere far away to experience a different climate—a new climate is coming to you. Climate change affects where we can grow food, how much water we have, and where we can build our homes. And we’ll face new challenges: firefighters will need to battle longer and more intense forest fire seasons; our public health officials may need to manage diseases that are not currently a problem; and city planners will need to encourage development away from areas we like to live, such as on coastlines and riverfronts.
Adaptation solutions vary from place to place, are difficult to predict, and involve many trade-offs. The first step to adapting to climate change is understanding local risks and developing plans to manage them. The next step is taking action—putting systems in place to respond to impacts we are experiencing today as we prepare for an uncertain tomorrow. These actions can include diversifying crops that can tolerate warmer and drier or wetter conditions; ensuring infrastructure can withstand more extreme weather; helping communities reduce their risk from sea level rise and increased floods; and making sure we manage our food, water, and other natural resources wisely in the context of a changing climate.
WWF is also working to better understand how a changing climate impacts wildlife and finding ways to help them adapt. Protecting wildlife—stopping poaching, curbing overfishing, and conserving habitats—is more important than ever with the added pressures of climate change.
