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Adaptation in Action

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face.

The upside is that governments, communities, donors and the private sector are all thinking about what the future will be like, and what can be done to minimise risks and harness benefits.
Climate adaptation planning presents an opportunity for WWF to shape the future we want to see.

Here is an overview of how we are responding to climate change around the world.

Climate change is altering the seasonal periods and this is severly affecting the olive harvest.

© Francisco Márquez / WWF-Spain

Places at risk

Polar bears on iceberg, Arctic Ocean, Canada

© WWF

WWF has undertaken climate change vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning in a number of countries and settings. Our work includes the RACER project in the Arctic, projects in Borneo, Vietnam, Nepal, the Yangtze and Ganga basins, Pakistan, the Mekong, Kenya, Madagascar and Belize.

Many faces of adaptation

WWF is involved in climate adaptation in a number of ways:

► raising awareness
► developing tools and methods
► influencing policy and planning
► research
► capacity building
► adaptive management

Any or all of these ingredients may be necessary for success, and so WWF collaborates with a wide range of partners.

Vulnerable species

© WWF

WWF investigates how species will adapt to climate change, for instance through our conservation work on some of the world's iconic species.
Our work includes the Adaptation to Climate Change for Marine Turtles (ACT) project and conservation of snow leopards in Central Asia.

People washing in the river, Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda.

© WWF/Simon Rawles

Guidance

Severely degraded mangroves. Rising sea levels and the clearing of native mangroves for commercial shrimp and salt farms has contributed greatly to the destruction of large tracts of coastal mangroves. Bang Khun Thian district, Bangkok.

© WWF

We have produced a number of guidance materials on adaptation to climate change, covering areas such as adaptive institutions, disaster risk reduction, mangroves, freshwater, species and climate change, and regional resilience.
Read more here.

Flooded marshland in the middle of Biebrza Marshes, Poland

© Fred F. Hazelhoff/ WWF

Policy

A wind farm near La Calahorra in Andalucia, Spain.

© WWF

WWF’s Global Climate & Energy Initiative recognises that climate change is an issue requiring a global response. We are working to ensure binding international commitments under the UNFCCC, to slow and eventually halt climate change.

We also work in partnership with other NGOs, like CARE and ActionAid, to ensure adaptation strategies are given the same level of priority as mitigation, to build the resilience of the most vulnerable people and ecosystems around the world.

Read more about it here.

Resources

Adaptation in action

PDF 4.31 MB

Promoting Climate Change Adaptation in Nepal

PDF 2.31 MB

Resilience on the Mekong: A Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment in North-East Cambodia

PDF 1.26 MB

Vulnerability Assessment of People, Livelihoods and Ecosystems in the Ganga Basin

PDF 2.97 MB

Rapid Integrated & Ecosystem-Based Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability & Adaptation for Ben Tre Province, Vietnam

PDF 3.07 MB

A natural capital approach to climate in Belize