WWF’s community based Climate Witness initiatives
WWF is keenly aware that climate change is already affecting biodiversity, ecosystems and communities.
We focus our climate change field work in 2 areas:
- Documenting the impacts of climate change and the need for solutions.
- Developing strategies to build resistance and resilience in 'front-line' ecosystems and communities where responses to climate change are needed in order to achieve long-term conservation.
Community based Climate Witness approaches
We are working in all regions of the world from tropical coral reefs to Arctic ecosystems. In our surveys of these diverse habitats we find increasing evidence of the impacts of climate change. And in most of these places we find that local communities have a very good understanding of the climate change vulnerability of their area, an understanding which is in some cases based on traditional ecological knowledge.WWF therefore works with a range of communities to learn from them about climate change impacts and local solutions. Community members taking part in WWF’s community based Climate Witness approach assist WWF in:
- mapping local climate vulnerabilities;
- developing resilience and resistance building strategies for communities and ecosystems;
- promoting these strategies locally, nationally and sometimes internationally; and
- engaging community members in implementing local strategies.
Around the world
WWF has started community based Climate Witness initiatives in the following regions:Kabara, Fiji
The Climate Witness Initiative on the island of Kabara, Fiji, was WWF’s first project to collect local knowledge of impacts of climate change on community livelihood and their surrounding environment. Since the project started in 2003, WWF has worked closely with a range of islanders in the South Pacific to document their knowledge and develop strategies for island communities to increase resilience against climate change.
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Huslia, Alaska, USA
In the small, remote village of Huslia, Alaska, WWF worked with the Athabascan community to document the perspectives on environmental change of indigenous people, whose views are based on traditional ecological knowledge. With the help of local high school students an audio slideshow was produced called Witnessing Climate Change: Native Voices from the Heart of Alaska.
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Unalakleet, Alaska, USA
WWF provided funding through the Native Village of Unalakleet to assist students with science projects. Many of the students were very excited to share their knowledge of what they learned about global warming and climate change.
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Boothia Peninsula, Canada
This project involved interviewing around a dozen elders from the Nunavut community about what they are witnessing as the Arctic warms, including changes they have seen in the weather, the effects on the landscape, polar bears and other wildlife, and what can and should be done.
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Solukhumbu, Nepal
In this initiative WWF documents how receding snowlines, melting glaciers and the threat of glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are threatening the communities of the Solukhumbu district, Nepal’s biggest tourist draw with its access to several of the world’s highest mountains, including Everest.
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Himalaya - Nepal, China and India
This regional project will first focus on the Khumbu and Nguzumpa glaciers in the Solu-Khumbu District and the Sagarmatha Area, Nepal. The project will work to examine the specific threat by the rapidly retreating glaciers upon the vital river systems and the people who depend on them.
The project will document Climate Witness stories from people living near the Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) and Kangchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA), Nepal, and develop adaptation strategies for their communities and ecosystems.
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Sundurbans Delta, West Bengal, India
This initiative documents the impacts of sea-level rise and monsoon shift on the communities of Bali, Choto – Mollakhali, Ghoramara and Sagar Island. Based on a range of Climate Witness testimonials and case studies, WWF India and the identified Witnesses will develop and promote ’Integrated Interventions’ to enhance the coping capacity of the communities and ecosystems of the Sunderbans.
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Sundurbans Delta, West Bengal, India
This initiative documents the impacts of sea-level rise and monsoon shift on the communities of Bali, Choto – Mollakhali, Ghoramara and Sagar Island. Based on a range of Climate Witness testimonials and case studies, WWF India and the identified Witnesses will develop and promote ’Integrated Interventions’ to enhance the coping capacity of the communities and ecosystems of the Sunderbans.
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Southeast Climate Witness Program
Placencia, Belize
A WWF survey shows that rising temperatures, altered rainfall and coral bleaching are among the main threats to Central America’s Mesoamerican Reef. The survey, conducted in this small coastal Caribbean village, recorded first-hand testimony from local inhabitants about the impact climate change has had on their marine resources, and by association, on their way of life. The survey complements other scientific work WWF is carrying out in the Mesoamerican reef.
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