Invading the field of climate adaptation
Summary
Climate adaptation plans were created by federal agencies following an executive order in 2021 aimed at increasing the resilience of U.S. resources and infrastructure by building climate change into planning and decision making. Given the many interactions between climate change and invasive species management (e.g., Colberg et al. 2024), Brewington et al. 2024 set out to assess whether climate adaptation plans are effectively incorporating threats from invasive species. They reviewed climate change adaptation plans developed by 26 federal agencies for their specific sectors (e.g., transportation, health services, energy) and assessed whether these plans considered how invasive species could affect climate adaptation. Only eight of the 26 adaptation plans considered invasive species, with only four including a meaningful discussion of links between invasive species and climate adaptation or resilience. Brewington et al. give several examples of how invasive species threaten climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation. Some examples relevant to the northeast are listed below in the take home points. This paper shows that those of us in the invasive species community can do a better job of communicating invasive species risks and the connection between climate change and invasive species to folks working in climate adaptation and mitigation fields.
Take home points
Major ways that invasive species could interact with climate adaptation include:
Carbon sequestration - outbreaks of forest pests and pathogens reduce forest carbon sequestration (e.g., Fei et al. 2019; Quirion et al. 2021). Proactively managing forest pests and pathogens increases sequestration.
Infrastructure - invasive species interact with climate change to threaten infrastructure, e.g., invasive knotweed + flooding = increased erosion and threat to roads and culverts.
Transportation - increased spread of invasive species due to responses to climate change (e.g., rebuilding roads after flooding). Cooperative efforts across jurisdictions are needed to reduce the introduction of invasive species seeds, eggs, and other propagules due to large-scale soil movement.
Ecosystems - new, warm-adapted invasive species could emerge and create novel threats to ecosystems and economies. Horizon scanning plus an emphasis on early detection and rapid response across jurisdictions would reduce these threats.
Management implications
The climate adaptation community is not typically thinking about how adaptation actions could affect invasive species management - the RISCC communities have the tools to educate them!
Related Papers
Keywords: Management efficacy, climate adaptation policy, proactive management, climate change adaptation plans, federal agencies