WWF is working to increase the resilience of freshwater ecosystems, and the communities and societies that rely on their ecosystem services, to anticipated impacts of climate change.
Adapting to climate change
We are seeking to address the institutional challenges of managing freshwater resources and protecting freshwater habitats in response to, and anticipation of, shifts in the climate regime.
The work includes:
The work includes:
- Promoting climate change adaptation policies in international conventions, such as UNFCCC, Ramsar and the CBD
- Minimizing the perverse impacts on water of climate mitigation and energy policies
- Promoting functional riparian floodplain wetlands to buffer weather extremes
- Promoting household water metering and water-demand shifts to reduce potential impacts from increasing drought frequency
- Conducting climate change vulnerability assessments of river basins
- Demonstrating how to build the resilience and adaptation capacity of freshwater ecosystems to climate change
- Integrating climate change considerations into river basin management through climate-aware river basin management plans, dam operation, and related policies
Dried-up lake due to drought, Patagonia, Argentina. Climate change is increasing the frequency of precipitation extremes such as droughts and flooding.
Climate change is altering many aspects of water flows, such as the timing of precipitation, the form in which it falls (e.g., snow or rain), and its intensity. This in turn is impacting both freshwater ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
