Abstract
Natural resource professionals, ranging from forest managers and educators to floodplain managers, play a critical role in implementing and conducting outreach with regards to climate mitigation and adaptation appropriate to local and regional scales. Natural resource professionals can also pave the way by adopting actions that serve as demonstrations of efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions or adapt natural systems for the future. A web survey of 1488 natural resource professionals across New York State (NYS) was conducted to assess their attitudes toward climate change, views toward climate change mitigation and adaptation priorities, actions taken to address climate change, and barriers faced as they relate to their professional responsibilities. The majority of natural resource professionals believe that climate change is happening, but there was slightly less agreement about human causes of climate change. Most natural resource professionals (69%) see evidence of how climate change is impacting natural resources in NYS, but few (17%) believed that there was sufficient information about how to address climate impacts at the local level. Nearly 60% of natural resources professionals undertook climate mitigation or adaptation actions in their work. Prominent influencing factors for action were proactive leadership and local impacts. Barriers to taking action on climate change were a lack of human and financial resources, the nature of costs relative to benefits, and lack of perceived threat. As managers and educators responsible for local water, land, and wildlife resources, natural resource professionals witness changes resulting from climate change first-hand. This paper will be useful to decision-makers at state and federal government levels regarding policies, incentives, and guidance that can be created with the goal of promoting a sound natural resource strategy in support of climate change readiness.
Highlights
Managing natural resources in a changing climate is an imperative to both mitigate and adapt to climate change [1,2]
This paper will be useful to decision-makers at state and federal government levels regarding policies, incentives, and guidance that can be created with the goal of promoting a sound natural resource strategy in support of climate change readiness
By conducting a statewide survey of natural resource professionals in New York State (NYS), we examined climate change knowledge and attitudes, as well as mitigation and adaptation actions taken by those working in natural resource outreach and management
Summary
Managing natural resources in a changing climate is an imperative to both mitigate and adapt to climate change [1,2]. Forests, fish and wildlife populations, and invasive species will all have critical feedback on agriculture, flooding, and, the health of communities in New York State (NYS) and elsewhere [3]. In NYS, there are already observed changes in the overall climate according to the National Climate Assessment [4]. Overall rainfall increased by 10% over the same time period; New York and the northeast region saw a greater increase in extreme precipitation events Specific changes will depend strongly on the emissions trend for the globe as a whole, with a 4–10 ◦ F increase in temperature expected in the northeast under a high emission rate scenario and a 2–6 ◦ F increase in temperature under lower emission rate scenarios. The frequency, intensity and Climate 2016, 4, 38; doi:10.3390/cli4030038 www.mdpi.com/journal/climate
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