Moving Forward on Climate Change Science, Planning, and Action

Abstract

Working in more than seventy landscapes and seascapes around the world, the Wildlife Conservation Society is but one example of many institutions working to bring about conservation at the large scape level (see extended definition of scape in chap. 1). Many of these locations face serious and imminent threats that, if left unresolved, will lead to the loss of the wild areas and wildlife within them forever. For example, the Western Ghats region of India—essentially, the mountain range running parallel to the country’s southwestern coast—is one of those scapes where rising human population pressures translate into expanding impacts including agricultural expansion, road development, livestock grazing, and habitat fragmentation. It is an all too familiar panoply of threats, but one that conservationists have no choice but to face head on. Quite simply, if conservationists are to ensure that populations of globally imperiled tigers (Panthera tigris), Asian elephants (Elaphus maximus), and other rare species maintain their stronghold in this region, they must bring immediate attention and redress to these threats.