An Introduction to the AdaptWest Database for Climate Adaptation Conservation Planning

Carlos Carroll, Director of Klamath Center for Conservation Research, presents on the AdaptWest Database.

Climate-driven shifts in species and ecosystems are complicating efforts to conserve biodiversity at the landscape scale. Recognizing this challenge, agencies and non-governmental organizations are increasingly searching for tools and information that allow identification of areas that are key to enhancing resilience and adaptation potential of natural systems under climate change. AdaptWest is a spatial database and synthesis of methods for conservation planning that helps fill that information need by providing seamless high-resolution data on a variety of climate-related metrics and detailed background context for evaluating the utility of different metrics in the context of your particular planning process. We will discuss several recently developed datasets available on adaptwest.databasin.org and how they can be used in climate adaptation planning. These datasets include downscaled climate data, climate velocity, location of refugia for species and climate types, environmental diversity, and land facet data. Two data explorers are also available that allow users to quickly summarize the data by watershed, ecoregion, or protected area. We are continuing to add data to the AdaptWest portal as more studies are completed.