Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment of Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems in the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region

Organizational

General Information:

Author: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Year of publication: 2018

Available languages: English

Details of Assessment:

Type of assessment: Vulnerability assessment

Details: Vulnerability of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Format of assessment: Report

Estimated costs for conducting: No information

Estimated duration of assessment: No information

To be carried out by whom: Scientists/researchers

Institutional scale of use: Regional

Assesment to be used by which target audience: Others (please specify)

Details: Forest managers and scientists

Output: Report

Methodological

Coverage & Methodology:

Region of origin: North America

Developed by which sector: State-run

Applied in practice: Yes

Geographic coverage in analysis: North America

Potential geographic coverage: Worldwide

Sectors covered: Biodiversity, Forestry

Details: Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Method used: Other (see details)

Description of methodology: Qualitative Vulnerability analysis. Non-climatic stressors and climatic stressors were seperated and criteria defined for each; criterions are ranked based on existing literature; vulnerability for each is ranked according to a scale, then narratives are ranked by experts; overall vulnerability was determined by average of climatic and non-climatic stressors; identification of adaptation options through stakeholder workshop

Risk framework used: Broad risk mapping according to different definition

Risk components incorporated: Hazard, exposure, sensitivity

Hazards and impacts considered in the assessment: All hazards

Source of required data: Secondary (available data is used)

Details: Literature on climatic changes, knowledge of the ecosystem regions

Temporal scale: Current

Participatory elements: Yes

Details: Stakeholder workshop

Consideration of interconnectedness and -dependencies of risks: Yes

Adressing uncertainty: No

Scope of assessment: Identification of risks, assessment of impacts, identification of adaptation options

Relevance for losses and damages:

Economic/Non-Economic losses incorporated: None

Applicability for entire risk spectrum (from extreme weather events to slow onset processes): Partly

Details: Depends on the context it is applied in

Applicability

Recommendations for Adaptation measures included in Climate Risk Assessment: Yes

Applied by whom: United States Department of Agriculture

Open access: Yes