• Energy Research

Response and adaptation to the impacts of climate change is a vital and increasing requirement for protected area management. On the ground managers of cultural and natural values in protected places have requested practical guidance on how to undertake climate change impact analysis, vulnerability assessment, and adaptation planning together with enhanced capacity for planning with partners, rightsholders and stakeholders. In this paper we explore how co-development and subsequent testing among World Heritage site managers, Indigenous experts and researchers, produced guidance for assessing, responding to and planning for the impacts of climate change on the diverse values of World Heritage sites in Australia. We draw on the diversity of cultural and natural heritage values associated with the terrestrial, coastal and marine environments in Australian World Heritage sites, and the broad range of institutional contexts in these sites, to highlight considerations of relevance to other protected areas (including other World Heritage sites around the world, Ramsar wetlands and marine protected areas). Our paper highlights that, for climate adaptation planning to become a normal part of management, there is a need for ongoing capacity building, including around the use of climate information to inform adaptation planning and implementation, as well as integrating Indigenous perspectives. Building capacity may involve trial and error, negotiation, sharing, sourcing and interpreting new information, and changes in expectations. It will require novel and more dynamic relationships between partners and stakeholders. Managers should include capacity building for climate adaptation planning and implementation as a specific climate adaptation task in their planning.

Response and adaptation to the impacts of climate change is a vital and increasing requirement for protected area management. On the ground managers of cultural and natural values in protected places have requested practical guidance on how to undertake climate change impact analysis, vulnerability assessment, and adaptation planning together with enhanced capacity for planning with partners, rightsholders and stakeholders. In this paper we explore how co-development and subsequent testing among World Heritage site managers, Indigenous experts and researchers, produced guidance for assessing, responding to and planning for the impacts of climate change on the diverse values of World Heritage sites in Australia. We draw on the diversity of cultural and natural heritage values associated with the terrestrial, coastal and marine environments in Australian World Heritage sites, and the broad range of institutional contexts in these sites, to highlight considerations of relevance to other protected areas (including other World Heritage sites around the world, Ramsar wetlands and marine protected areas). Our paper highlights that, for climate adaptation planning to become a normal part of management, there is a need for ongoing capacity building, including around the use of climate information to inform adaptation planning and implementation, as well as integrating Indigenous perspectives. Building capacity may involve trial and error, negotiation, sharing, sourcing and interpreting new information, and changes in expectations. It will require novel and more dynamic relationships between partners and stakeholders. Managers should include capacity building for climate adaptation planning and implementation as a specific climate adaptation task in their planning.

AbstractGlobally, collapse of ecosystems—potentially irreversible change to ecosystem structure, composition and function—imperils biodiversity, human health and well‐being. We examine the current state and recent trajectories of 19 ecosystems, spanning 58° of latitude across 7.7 M km2, from Australia's coral reefs to terrestrial Antarctica. Pressures from global climate change and regional human impacts, occurring as chronic ‘presses’ and/or acute ‘pulses’, drive ecosystem collapse. Ecosystem responses to 5–17 pressures were categorised as four collapse profiles—abrupt, smooth, stepped and fluctuating. The manifestation of widespread ecosystem collapse is a stark warning of the necessity to take action. We present a three‐step assessment and management framework (3As Pathway Awareness, Anticipation and Action) to aid strategic and effective mitigation to alleviate further degradation to help secure our future.

AbstractGlobally, collapse of ecosystems—potentially irreversible change to ecosystem structure, composition and function—imperils biodiversity, human health and well‐being. We examine the current state and recent trajectories of 19 ecosystems, spanning 58° of latitude across 7.7 M km2, from Australia's coral reefs to terrestrial Antarctica. Pressures from global climate change and regional human impacts, occurring as chronic ‘presses’ and/or acute ‘pulses’, drive ecosystem collapse. Ecosystem responses to 5–17 pressures were categorised as four collapse profiles—abrupt, smooth, stepped and fluctuating. The manifestation of widespread ecosystem collapse is a stark warning of the necessity to take action. We present a three‐step assessment and management framework (3As Pathway Awareness, Anticipation and Action) to aid strategic and effective mitigation to alleviate further degradation to help secure our future.

Assessments of change in ecosystems and their drivers are central for meeting the challenge of conserving biodiversity in the long term. Such assessments support national and international agencies to implement management actions that sustain natural systems and maintain the delivery of ecosystem services. Change in marine systems may arise directly from human activities (e.g., fisheries), indirectly from local or global activities (cascading effects through food webs from fisheries or changing environments from climate change and/or ocean acidification), or from naturally varying processes. A particular challenge for managers is to understand the likely impacts of future climate change on ecosystems, and to consider what actions might be needed (climate change mitigation and adaption) to continue to meet conservation requirements into the future. For large regions such as the Southern Ocean, which have the attention of many management or policy-oriented bodies, a standardized process is needed to harmonize the scientific information on the status and trends in ecosystems used by the different bodies. That process also needs to ensure the information is available in a timely manner. The Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO) is the first circumpolar interdisciplinary assessment of Southern Ocean ecosystem status and trends. It is a core activity of the program Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) (a regional program of Integrated Marine Biosphere Research), and co-sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). MEASO is a spatially-structured circumpolar ecosystem assessment that has drawn on a broad range of data, including biodiversity data. It has been a 5-year inclusive international activity, modelled on a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, providing a forward-looking assessment of status and trends in Southern Ocean ecosystems. To date, it has involved over 200 scientists from across the Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific community (18 countries, >50% identifying as women, >40% early career), contributing to 25 research articles published in a special research topic in Frontiers journals*1. This presentation will describe the MEASO process and highlight over-arching findings and key messages for Southern Ocean ecosystems. It will highlight the underpinning importance of biodiversity data and standards, and will provide an overview of priorities for improving future assessments and policy-relevant advice, including those that relate to data standards and FAIR principles (the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets).

Assessments of change in ecosystems and their drivers are central for meeting the challenge of conserving biodiversity in the long term. Such assessments support national and international agencies to implement management actions that sustain natural systems and maintain the delivery of ecosystem services. Change in marine systems may arise directly from human activities (e.g., fisheries), indirectly from local or global activities (cascading effects through food webs from fisheries or changing environments from climate change and/or ocean acidification), or from naturally varying processes. A particular challenge for managers is to understand the likely impacts of future climate change on ecosystems, and to consider what actions might be needed (climate change mitigation and adaption) to continue to meet conservation requirements into the future. For large regions such as the Southern Ocean, which have the attention of many management or policy-oriented bodies, a standardized process is needed to harmonize the scientific information on the status and trends in ecosystems used by the different bodies. That process also needs to ensure the information is available in a timely manner. The Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO) is the first circumpolar interdisciplinary assessment of Southern Ocean ecosystem status and trends. It is a core activity of the program Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) (a regional program of Integrated Marine Biosphere Research), and co-sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). MEASO is a spatially-structured circumpolar ecosystem assessment that has drawn on a broad range of data, including biodiversity data. It has been a 5-year inclusive international activity, modelled on a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, providing a forward-looking assessment of status and trends in Southern Ocean ecosystems. To date, it has involved over 200 scientists from across the Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific community (18 countries, >50% identifying as women, >40% early career), contributing to 25 research articles published in a special research topic in Frontiers journals*1. This presentation will describe the MEASO process and highlight over-arching findings and key messages for Southern Ocean ecosystems. It will highlight the underpinning importance of biodiversity data and standards, and will provide an overview of priorities for improving future assessments and policy-relevant advice, including those that relate to data standards and FAIR principles (the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets).

One of the most pronounced effects of climate change on the world’s oceans is the (generally) poleward movement of species and fishery stocks in response to increasing water temperatures. In some regions, such redistributions are already causing dramatic shifts in marine socioecological systems, profoundly altering ecosystem structure and function, challenging domestic and international fisheries, and impacting on human communities. Such effects are expected to become increasingly widespread as waters continue to warm and species ranges continue to shift. Actions taken over the coming decade (2021–2030) can help us adapt to species redistributions and minimise negative impacts on ecosystems and human communities, achieving a more sustainable future in the face of ecosystem change. We describe key drivers related to climate-driven species redistributions that are likely to have a high impact and influence on whether a sustainable future is achievable by 2030. We posit two different futures—a ‘business as usual’ future and a technically achievable and more sustainable future, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. We then identify concrete actions that provide a pathway towards the more sustainable 2030 and that acknowledge and include Indigenous perspectives. Achieving this sustainable future will depend on improved monitoring and detection, and on adaptive, cooperative management to proactively respond to the challenge of species redistribution. We synthesise examples of such actions as the basis of a strategic approach to tackle this global-scale challenge for the benefit of humanity and ecosystems.