About the Clearinghouse

Welcome to the Conservation & Climate Change Clearinghouse, a service to the growing community of individuals who are working to protect the Earth’s land and biodiversity from the increasing anthropogenic effects of climate change.

If you are reading this, you are most probably well aware of the fact that climate change is, to put it mildly, a vast topic with hundreds of subcategories--any one of which could (and does) fill volumes. Metaphorically, our understanding of climate change is like an immense jigsaw puzzle that humanity has half constructed on its kitchen table; although many pieces are missing, we have a pretty good idea of what it looks like.

While focusing on any single piece of this “climate change puzzle” will inevitably create artificial and problematic boundaries, the Clearinghouse does not intend to put this puzzle together (although a few particularly helpful general resources can be found here). Rather, the resources gathered on this page have been collected under one guiding question: How is climate change affecting the practice of conservation?

More specifically, the Clearinghouse will focus on the myriad effects of climate change on biodiversity (with a subsidiary focus on water and soils) and how these effects will change the way we “do” conservation. While such parameters still remain relatively open ended, our base criterion for inclusion in the Clearinghouse comes down to whether any particular resource be of direct relevance to conservation practitioners in responding to the threat of climate change. As such, a recurrent theme throughout this website is that of adaptation to climate change.

In addition, the Clearinghouse has been established with the intention of providing two practical purposes:

1. •Staying up to date: The Clearinghouse provides access to the latest updates regarding the effects of climate change on land and biodiversity, whether found in journal articles, legislative developments, media coverage, or conferences. The Clearinghouse stays on top of the ever-expanding developments in this field so that you can catch up with what’s going on.
   

2. •Finding what you need—quickly: The Clearinghouse is your window on the vast array of work that has been conducted in this arena over the past two decades. On myriad fronts, scientists and conservation practitioners have built up an extensive body of knowledge in this area; the Clearinghouse provides an accessible and organized entry point into these divers and critical efforts.
   

Finally, our hope is that the Clearinghouse will become a virtual space for the growing community of practitioners, decision-makers, scholars, and citizens who are working to understand the complex relationship between conservation and climate change.

As we build this site, we hope you will keep us up to date on your work, as well as forward us relevant information that should be shared with this growing community.

Please join the community by sending your updates to the Clearinghouse!

© Copyright 2010 The Conservation & Climate Change Clearinghouse