Embedding biodiversity research into climate adaptation policy and practice

Abstract

Addressing climate change risks requires collaboration and engagement across all sectors of society. In particular, effective partnerships are needed between research scientists producing new knowledge, policy‐makers and practitioners who apply conservation actions on the ground. We describe the implementation of a model for increasing the application and useability of biodiversity research in climate adaptation policy and practice. The focus of the program was to increase the ability of a state government agency and natural resource practitioners in Australia to manage and protect biodiversity in a changing climate. The model comprised a five‐stage process for enhancing impact (i) initiation of research projects that addressed priority conservation policy and management issues; (ii) co‐design of the research using a collaborative approach involving multiple stakeholders; (iii) implementation of the research and design of decision tools and web‐based resources; (iv) collaborative dissemination of the tools and resources via government and community working groups; and (v) evaluation of research impact. We report on the model development and implementation, and critically reflect on the model's impact. We share the lessons learnt from the challenges of operating within a stakeholder group with diverse objectives and criteria for success, and provide a template for creating an environmental research program with real world impact.

More future synergies and less trade‐offs between forest ecosystem services with natural climate solutions instead of bioeconomy solutions

“…To support the capacity of the forest to mitigate climate change, supply multiple ES and retain biodiversity, the development of forest strategies should implement CCMS that also meet biodiversity targets (Crossman et al, 2013 ). The possibility for cost‐efficient biodiversity preservation in forest strategies (Graham et al, 2021 ) will be better achieved through an understanding of the potential effects of CCMS on both future biodiversity and ES supply (Blattert et al, 2020 ). The reason is that certain CCMS involve an increase in timber harvesting (Baul et al, 2017 ; Gustavsson et al, 2017 ), and this may escalate conflicts in the use of the forest for both climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation (Camia et al, 2021 ; Snäll et al, 2017 ).…”