Conservation groups turn local efforts toward a global impact on climate change

Even if you’re not an environmentalist, it’s hard to ignore the recent news on climate change: the Arctic tundra is thawing, glaciers melting, fires raging, and the Amazon region nearing a tipping point … and all this accelerating more quickly than scientists had expected even a few years ago. Meanwhile, negotiators in Madrid again failed to do much of anything to address the problem. As I say to my friends, “If you’re not depressed, you’re not paying attention.”

But there is reason for hope. Many scientists and practitioners promote so-called “green solutions” to the climate crisis. Green solutions include planting forests, protecting large tracts of intact natural habitat, and so on. Green solutions span a range of sectors including forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry, and how we manage wetlands and coastal systems. In a recent extension to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent assessment, a study showed that green solutions could collectively contribute substantially to efforts to meet the targets of the Paris Accord—as much as a third or more of the targets for emission reductions and carbon storage. By a wide margin, the greatest benefits come from reforestation and avoiding the conversion of natural forest. They argue that these actions could be immensely important in the short- to midterm, during the next couple decades as we make the transition to a low-carbon economy.

These green practices are what conservation practitioners do every day. In fact, one authoritative framework for adapting conservation under climate change emphasizes that of six deliberate actions needed for climate adaptation, four are things conservationists are already doing. These include protecting large tracts of intact habitat, areas known to currently support high biodiversity. In addition, adaptation strategies including maintaining high levels of habitat diversity as influenced by topography and local variation in geology and soils, and keeping habitats intact so that plants and wildlife have access to nearby sites that can help buffer year-to-year variation in climate. Conservation has worked actively toward these goals for decades. The other two adaptation actions are to identify potential climate refuges (areas expected to experience little warming) and locations that will provide suitable habitat in the future, and to protect and maintain dispersal corridors to these locations. Conservationists started to work toward these goals more recently but are making good progress.

A primary benefit of conserving land is that it reduces carbon emissions by avoiding the conversion of natural habitats (especially forests) to other land uses such as agriculture or urban development. Restoring forests further increases their carbon storage. Through this, land conservation and stewardship can contribute directly to mitigating climate change. As a side benefit, these actions also provide wildlife habitat, protect our watersheds and improve water quality, improve local air quality, and provide natural cooling (especially in more urban or developed landscapes). Finally, the protected areas provide opportunities to connect people to nature through hiking, biking, and other recreational activities.

So, if you want to do something about climate change, support your local conservation organization. North Carolina is home to several: The Nature Conservancy, the Conservation Fund, the Triangle Land Conservancy, and several other land trusts. (Full disclosure: I work actively with several of these organizations, and serve on the board of a few. If you don’t know your local land trust, go to the Land Trust Alliance website (landtrustalliance.org) and click “Find a land trust”.)

These organizations are already working on green solutions, and they could use your help. Volunteer your time, or make a donation. As we are now in the giving season, many of these organizations have active matching-gift challenges that will magnify your gift if received before the end of the year (and your gift might be tax-deductible). Do something for the planet, your community, yourself, and your kids. Support local land conservation.