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Conservation of Urban Biodiversity Under Climate Change: Climate-smart Management for Chicago Green Spaces

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Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation

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Abstract

Chicago Wilderness, a multistate alliance of more than 300 organizations dedicated to restoring biodiversity, is leading the effort to bridge the gap between climate science and biodiversity adaptation practices in urban natural areas and green spaces. In 2010, Chicago Wilderness completed the Climate Action Plan for Nature (CAPN), which describes potential climate change impacts within the 221,000 ha of protected areas in the region, and actions managers can take to help species and ecosystems adapt to climate change. The CAPN represents the first Climate Action Plan to address issues of biodiversity conservation in the Great Lakes region and is the only known example of place-based adaptation strategies for urban biodiversity. This chapter depicts the creation of the Chicago Wilderness Climate Action Initiative and the ensuing work to implement the CAPN, highlighting the challenges and importance of creating landscape level conservation approaches that integrate climate science information into best management practices. This collaborative effort can serve as a model for use in other urban centers.

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Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge the generous funding organizations that made this work possible, including Boeing Corporation, Chicago Department of Environment, National Science Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and Kresge Foundation. We would also like to sincerely thank Chris Mulvaney from the Chicago Wilderness for his continued support and assistance in helping to organize the Climate Change Task Force, Doug Stotz from the Field Museum for his leadership of the Climate Change Task Force, and former Deputy Commissioner for Chicago Department of Environment Aaron Durnbaugh for leading the charge to develop the Climate Considerations Guidebook. None of this work would be possible without the participation and support from Chicago Wilderness members and City of Chicago natural resource managers. Finally, we would like to thank Joyce Coffee, Rob McDonald, Laurel Ross, and Doug Stotz for their thoughtful reviews and insightful comments in helping to develop this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lakeshore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    Abigail Derby Lewis

  2. Chicago Wilderness, 8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 900, Chicago, IL, 60603, USA

    Abigail Derby Lewis

  3. The Nature Conservancy, 301 SW Adams Street, Suite 1007, Peoria, IL, 61602, USA

    Robert K. Moseley

  4. The Nature Conservancy, 101 East Grand River, Lansing, MI, 48906, USA

    Kimberly R. Hall

  5. Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Change Initiative, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 46556, USA

    Jessica J. Hellmann

Authors
  1. Abigail Derby Lewis
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  2. Robert K. Moseley
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  3. Kimberly R. Hall
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  4. Jessica J. Hellmann
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Correspondence to Abigail Derby Lewis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Faculty of Life Science, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Lewis, A.D., Moseley, R.K., Hall, K.R., Hellmann, J.J. (2014). Conservation of Urban Biodiversity Under Climate Change: Climate-smart Management for Chicago Green Spaces. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40455-9_11-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40455-9_11-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40455-9

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