Wednesday, January 13, 2010

AFWA Releases Voluntary Guidance for Climate Change

The Voluntary Guidance for States to Incorporate Climate Change into State Wildlife Action Plans & Other Management Plans provides voluntary guidance for state fish and wildlife agencies wanting to better incorporate the impacts of climate change on wildlife and their habitats into Wildlife Action Plans.

The 42-page document includes sections on wildlife adaptation, vulnerability assessment, monitoring and the planning process and it provides an overview of the information currently available on climate change, tools that can be used to plan for and implement climate change adaptation, voluntary guidance and case studies. The approaches and techniques described in the document will also be useful in modifying other wildlife plans (e.g. big game/upland game/migratory bird plans, joint venture implementation plans, national fish habitat action plan, etc.) to address climate change.

The Climate Change Wildlife Action Plan Guidance document was developed by Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Climate Change and Teaming With Wildlife Committees.

The PDF of this document is available on the Association’s website and on the Wildlife Action Plan Resource page (www.wildlfeactionplan.org. If you would like to request a hard copy of the document, contact: Terra Rentz at trentz@fishwildlife.org.