Adaptive Management of Climate-induced Changes of Habitat Diversity in Protected Areas (HABIT-CHANGE)

The European network of protected sites is challenged by anthropogenic actions and climate change. Nature conservation agencies have to cope with potential modifications of habitat composition induced by Climate Change and the fact that the targeted conservation may no longer be valid. Scenarios and indicators applied for the local scale are missing and likewise there is a lack of knowledge. The direction of future changes and how this matches with a long-term impact of management measures are unclear. The project’s overall objective is to evaluate, enhance and adapt existing management and conservation strategies in protected sites to pro-actively respond on likely influences of CC as a threat to habitat integrity and diversity. Furthermore, a monitoring concept is being developed to detect changes caused either by human activity or climate change effects. The project partnership is built by local site management agencies, nature conservation authorities, partners from the private sector and scientific institutions active in ecological and Climate Change research. This complementary mix of implementing and scientific organisations allows for a successful translation between scientific and user domain towards practicable implementation.