Climate Crisis
WCS uses cutting-edge science to understand the impacts of
climate change on wildlife and natural resources, plan conservation for a
rapidly changing world, and implement on-the-ground solutions to protect ecosystems.
Why WCS?
WCS has become one of the world's most respected institutions for climate science on the effects of climate change on biodiversity. In addition:
3 years
By 2025, 12 nature based solutions projects anchored in WCS land and seascapes will generate 10 million tonnes in emission reductions and carbon sequestration.
4 billion tonnes of CO2
If we and our partners are successful, our intact forest program will prevent emissions and lost sinks totalling more than 4 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2050—equivalent to almost three years of emissions from road transport in the U.S.
21.9 million dollars
Through the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund, we have awarded $21.9 million to support wildlife adaptation in the U.S.
Intact Forests
Preserving our planet’s remaining unharmed forests is one of the most powerful and cost-effective solutions we have to combat climate change. Here's how we are working to end the loss of these landscapes by 2030.
On Our Work
Climate Science
Our scientists have created innovative and powerful solutions for addressing and managing the impacts of climate change in every region where we work.
Our science drives:
- Ecosystem-based adaptive management and disaster risk reduction in the tropical Pacific Islands.
- Leading-edge techniques for mapping ecosystem vulnerability to climate change.
- Climate change and wildlife connectivity in the Albertine Rift region of Africa.
- Pioneering research on climate impacts and adaptation strategies for protecting coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean.
- Climate adaptation solutions in New York's Adirondack Mountains.
- Thought-leading science on projecting how human responses to climate change will impact biodiversity.
Reports
Climate Adaptation
Climate Mitigation
We address the causes of climate change primarily by protecting large swaths of tropical forest that would emit CO2 if destroyed.
Through an international approach called REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) we help governments, forest managers, and local communities to:
- Quantify and value the climate benefits provided by forest conservation.
- Receive payments in recognition of reducing deforestation.
- Re-invest those payments in low-carbon and climate resilient paths to sustainable development.
Forest First Approach
This framing provides the scientific rationale and the business case for the public and private sector to proactively triage and target emerging deforestation risks before they are heavily embedded within supply chains, and provides a lens through which emerging deforestation frontiers can be identified.
Related News
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March 22, 2023
WCS Applauds Biden Administration Announcement to Protect Pacific Remote Islands and Release of First-Ever Ocean Climate Action Plan
The following statement is by John Calvelli, WCS Executive Vice President for Public Affairs on the Biden Administration's announcent to to start the process to designate the Pacific Remote Islands and their surrounding waters as a National Marine...
Read the story
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March 20, 2023
Study Confirms Norway-Sized Swath of Mountain Forest Lost Between 2001-2018
A WCS-coauthored study reveals that global mountain forests – critically important to wildlife – are vanishing at an accelerating rate with an area twice the size of Norway lost between 2001-2018.
Read the story
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February 21, 2023
HAULOUT: Oscar-Nominated Documentary Short Featured as Best of Festival at Upcoming New York WILD Film Festival
The New York WILD Film Festival and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) are hosting a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary “HAULOUT,” which chronicles the dramatic effects of climate change from the most rapidly transforming ecosystem...
Read the story
View All News
WCS Applauds Biden Administration Announcement to Protect Pacific Remote Islands and Release of First-Ever Ocean Climate Action Plan
The following statement is by John Calvelli, WCS Executive Vice President for Public Affairs on the Biden Administration's announcent to to start the process to designate the Pacific Remote Islands and their surrounding waters as a National Marine...
Read the storyStudy Confirms Norway-Sized Swath of Mountain Forest Lost Between 2001-2018
A WCS-coauthored study reveals that global mountain forests – critically important to wildlife – are vanishing at an accelerating rate with an area twice the size of Norway lost between 2001-2018.
Read the storyHAULOUT: Oscar-Nominated Documentary Short Featured as Best of Festival at Upcoming New York WILD Film Festival
The New York WILD Film Festival and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) are hosting a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary “HAULOUT,” which chronicles the dramatic effects of climate change from the most rapidly transforming ecosystem...
Read the storySign Up for Email Updates
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