Short course at SCB North America Congess: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Integration with Adaptation Planning into a Conservation Planning Approach

Short Course/Training 5 (SCT5). Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Integration with Adaptation Planning into a Conservation Planning Approach. Sunday, July 15th, 2012, 8:00AM-5:00PM.

This short course, delivered in two parts, is appropriate for those conducting watershed, resource management, conservation, or land use planning that wish to integrate climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning. The course will help natural resource managers and conservationists to: 1) assess the vulnerability of resources and infrastructure to a variety of stressors including climate change, and 2) develop landscape-scale adaptation alternatives. Using "Scanning the Conservation Horizon: A Guide to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment," the first section of the course will give an overview of a training given at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center. This training assists practitioners in identifying which species or habitats are likely to be most strongly affected by projected changes, understanding sources of vulnerability for these resources, and provide an overview of tools supporting these methods. The guide is the product of an expert working group on climate change vulnerability assessment convened by the National Wildlife Federation in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The second half of the course will focus on an approach and toolkit adapted from NatureServe's work on a land-sea decision support toolkit, the Refuge Vulnerability Assessment process developed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Yale framework for climate adaptation. All steps in the approach are supported by a decision support toolkit, and the process is intended to be carried out by natural resource planners and managers and GIS staff, consultants, or partners. This part of the course will be a participatory session with presentations on the process and participant exercises and interaction to further illustrate the methodology. Participants will be provided with hard copies of the Scanning the Conservation Horizon guidebook and digital copies of the Integrated Land-Sea Technical Guide and Refuge Vulnerability Assessment Handbooks for further guidance.

Lead Instructors: John Rozum, EBM Tools Training Coordinator, Coastal Marine Ecosystem-based Tools Network; Jennie Hoffman, Directing Scientist, EcoAdapt; Michelle Haynes, Course Leader, Applied Landscape Conservation, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Conservation Training Center; Patrick J Crist, PhD., Director, Conservation Planning & Ecosystem Management, NatureServe

Cost: $60.00. Location: Marriott. Group size: 35 maximum.

Learn more at www.scbnacongress.org/program/trainings-a-short-courses.html.