Combination Marks Opportunities for Climate Adaptation and Innovation

From coastal redwoods and Joshua trees to golden poppies and sagebrush, California is a global botanical hotspot. It’s also a place confronted with extreme heat, wildfires and crumbling coastlines. The state’s natural beauty and history of pioneering conservation efforts make it a test bed for protecting biodiversity in the face of current and future climate change, argues a study led by the University of California, Davis.

Published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study, “Climate Change and California’s Terrestrial Biodiversity,” is part of a special PNAS issue on California sustainability. The article concludes that California’s 30 x 30 Initiative to preserve 30% of its lands and coastal waters by 2030, along with efforts to harmonize biodiversity conservation and renewable energy, is a promising step. It also highlights the need for California to shift away from its decades-long fire suppression policies and adopt fire strategies reflective of new fire regimes.

“California has had a history for over 100 years of being a leader in protecting the environment — from setting aside parks for people to climate adaptation,” said lead author Susan Harrison, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy. “The threats are extreme and unprecedented, but California has always been a state where creative new solutions have emerged.”

California’s climate has become warmer, drier and more variable since the mid-1900s, the study noted. It examined major threats climate change poses to the state’s biodiversity and sustainability. These include the impacts of shifting plant biodiversity, land-use change, wildfire and renewable energy, and the policy responses to those challenges.

Full article https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/california-botanical-and-climate-change-hot-spot

Climate change and California’s terrestrial biodiversity https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2310074121