Putting Natural Solutions to Work in North America IUCN World Conservation Congress

1. Putting Natural Solutions to Work in North America IUCN World Conservation Congress Jeju, South Korea September 7, 2012 Leigh Welling, US National Park Service and Karen Keenleyside, Parks Canada

2. North American Intergovernmental Committee on Cooperation for Wilderness and Protected Area Conservation (NAWPA) Identified 6 roles for wilderness and protected areas to provide natural solutions for climate change

3. Taking Action • Within our own programs and jurisdictions • With partners and stakeholders • Across jurisdictional boundaries • Continentally • Internationally

4. Adaptation Planning

5. Case Study: Assateague Island An ecosystem facing many thresholds… Seabeach Amaranth Piping Plover Chick

6. Key Climate Drivers and Impacts • Drivers of change considered most uncertain and consequential: • Sea level rise • Increased storm intensity • Increase in extreme temperature events • Changes in patterns of precipitation and drought Potential resource impacts: • Dynamic physical landscape • Decreased habitat diversity • Geographic shift of species and habitats • Degraded estuarine water quality • Reduced freshwater availability • Human response Assateague Island Example

7. Assateague Overall Implications and Actions Resiliency Research and Study Capacity Building Indicators to Monitor • Flexible, mobile infrastructure • Adjust sediment supply – possibly lead to an augmentation of the salt marsh • Easements, land exchanges, migration corridors, changing boundaries • Reduce existing stressors • Create and protect critical habitats • Saltmarshes, freshwater systems • Vulnerability assessments • Adaptation strategies • Social science – visitors and changing uses • Geomorphological change with sea level rise and storms • Coordination and collaboration with state, federal, and local communities. • Shared infrastructure, common messages, and public education and outreach • Landscape/regional approaches to habitat conservation • Educate and train agency staffs • Relative sea level rise • Geomorphology • Species changes • Groundwater • Landscape level changes • Migration pheneology

8. Plan, Monitor, & Build for Change Infrastructure is set back from vulnerable areas Oceanfront parking lot made of native materials

9. Working Together • Framework to guide collaborative action • Communication tools • Knowledge sharing

10. Protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services

11. Connecting the land, the sea, the people Restoring ecological integrity and resilience

12. Building knowledge and understanding Engaging and inspiring people with hope for the future

13. Working together to inform and engage • Evidence-based • Consistent • Inspiring • Innovative • Targeted

14. Informing decision-making • Government of Canada National Report to UNFCCC 2010 “...Protected areas contribute to climate change adaptation.” • Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Climate Action Plan 2011 “An expanded network of protected areas will increase... mitigation and adaptation services.” • Climate Ready: Ontario’s Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan 2011-14 “The provincial protected areas system plays a vital role in Ontario’s ability to lessen and adapt to the impacts of climate change.”

15. Best Practices for mainstreaming into the climate change dialogue • Operationalize climate change • Develop and apply sound knowledge and tools for effective decision-making • Communicate relevance of protected areas with all sectors • Collaborate broadly to build understanding and empower people to act • Be prepared to navigate change!

16. The Ongoing Challenge • Moving towards business unusual • Mainstreaming in sectoral adaptation plans • Learning from others domestically and internationally