On March 26, 2013 the Obama Administration released what it calls the “first nationwide strategy to help public and private decision makers address the impacts that climate change is having on natural resources and the people and economies that depend on them.” In a press release the Climate Adaptation Strategy for Fish, Wildlife and Plants is referred to as providing “a roadmap of key steps needed over the next five years to reduce the current and expected impacts of climate change.”
The strategy sets for seven steps for safeguarding fish, wildlife and plants as:
” Conserve habitat to support healthy fish, wildlife, and plant populations and ecosystem functions;
Manage species and habitats to protect ecosystem functions and provide sustainable commercial, subsistence, recreational and cultural use;
Enhance capacity for effective management;
Support adaptive management through integrated observation and monitoring and use of decision support tools;
Increase knowledge and information on impacts and responses of fish, wildlife, and plants;
Increase awareness and motivate action to safeguard fish, wildlife, and plants; and
Reduce non-climate stressors to help fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems adapt”
The process in developing the strategy was led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, other Departments of the U.S. Government and the New York DEC, representing state governments.