Climate change: can nature help us?

Hard-engineered sea walls have a limited life span. Could saltmarshes and mangroves offer a different approach to buffering against storm surges and coastal erosion? Do we really want to lose these buffers and face increasing costs of sea wall maintenance? - Iris Moller Flooding, landslides, crop failure, water shortages. Across the globe, the frequency with which humans are suffering the ill effects of climatic variability and extreme weather events is on the increase. Can natural environments be used effectively to help people adapt to the effects of climate change? The first systematic review of this question - facilitated by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) Collaborative Fund for Conservation - finds much evidence of their effectiveness. "The delays in international agreements on ways to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions mean that planning to counter the impacts of climate change is a necessity," said Robert Munroe, Climate Change Officer at BirdLife International. "Governments of all countries should be making plans to protect us against these impacts." One adaptation option is to invest in costly, large-scale structures such as sea walls, irrigation systems and dams. But while their short-term impact is clear, these solutions lead to ever-increasing maintenance costs and often have negative impacts on local ecosystems and biodiversity.